If you are involved in a royalty case, or plan to be, read Occidental Permian, Ltd. v. French et al. The appellate court decided there was no evidence to support the trial court’s findings that the lessors were underpaid. (See my too-long December 6 post for the underlying facts.) In this case the plaintiffs were
Underpaid Royalty Case Resolved in Favor of Lessee
One impediment to the correct resolution of lessors’ claims for unpaid royalties is the complexity of the contractual arrangements between producers and purchasers of production. Occidental Permian, Ltd. v. French et al offers a good example.
It is also a refresher on the basic rules of royalty calculation in Texas and, for royalty owners in
Yes, Virginia,There is an MUI Claus(e)
By Travis Booher
History tells us that the young friends of Virginia O’Hanlon broke the news to her that there was no Santa Claus. When she quizzed her father about Santa’s existence, Dad’s fatherly advice was to ask the local newspaper. “If you see it in The Sun, it’s so.” You know the rest of
What is the Best Way to Fight Rising Sea Levels?
For the purposes of this conversation let’s agree that global warming exists, and let’s not argue about whether it is, as those who use big words say, “anthropomorphic” “anthropogenic” or, as you and I might say, “man made”.
Bjorn Lomborg doesn’t focus so much on the causes of rising sea levels; he proposes alternative ways
Operator Not Liable for Breach of JOA – Louisiana Version (Kind of)
It’s deju vu all over again in Chesapeake Operating, Inc. v. Sanchez Oil & Gas Corp. More accurately, it is a variation of Reeder v. Wood County Energy, LLC, et al. applied to Louisiana operations. For the impact of the exculpatory clause protecting the operator from liability in the 1989 Model Form JOA, see
A Texas Mineral Reservation was a Fractional Royalty
Head-scratchers: (1) Is a mineral reservation a fraction of royalty, or a fractional royalty? (2) Is there a difference? (3) Does it matter?
Answers: (1) It depends on how you phrase it. (2) Yes. (3) Yes, if you care about being paid on production, or you are the scrivener of deeds and assignments and want
Executive Right Owner Could Be Liable for Failing to Forward Royalty Payments
The ghosts of Clinton Manges and people like him continue to haunt executive right owners in Texas. In the 1980’s, Mr. Manges’ abuse of his non-participating royalty owner inspired the Texas Supreme Court to re-affirm the obligations of an executive right owner to the NPRI owner: “utmost fair dealing” and a fiduciary duty.
In Friddle
EPA Planning to Ban Coal-Fired Power Plants?
According to a Sunday blog post by Conn Carroll in the Washington Examiner, the EPA is hurrying efforts to implement regulations that would ban coal-fired power plants before the end of the year, in fear that a loss by President Obama in Tuesday’s election would put an end to what would otherwise be on
Theft of Trade Secrets Nets Large Damage Award
For the sake of conversation let’s say I burgle your trade secrets after failing to close a big deal that would have saved your company. I would be in big trouble, according to a bankruptcy court in In re TXCO Resources., Inc., a case study in treachery and self-dealing in the executive suite worthy
Mistaken Reference in a Deed to a Mineral Reservation Does Not Reserve the Minerals
“If you want a successful gathering of long-lost kinfolks, just manage to find oil on the old homestead. They will come out from under logs, down trees, from out of the blue and down every road and byway, but they’ll get there — even some nobody ever suspected were kinfolks.”
Judge R. T.Brown, who presided