The message in RSM Production Corporation v. Gaz du Cameroun SA: According to the federal Fifth Circuit, an arbitration tribunal’s construction of a contract and the arbitration rules governing the dispute “hold, however good, bad, or ugly.” Translation: Good for one party, bad or ugly for the other, just like the courthouse.
RSM was
In In the Matter of Offshore Oil Services, Inc., Offshore owned and operated the M/V Anna. Offshore sued Island Operating Company for exoneration and/or limitation of liability for a personal injury claim by an employee of Island. The question (after a series of earlier rulings): After reaching a settlement with the employee of Island
MDC Enegy LLC v. Crosby Energy Services Inc. et al. was an indemnity dispute in which the players were many and the facts complicated.
But first
Gray Reed’s own Mitch Ackal and Jeremy Walter will present an entertaining and informative webinar on Texas Business Courts on January 29 at noon. Use this link to learn
Mr./Ms. Negotiator/scrivener/reviewer of Master Service Agreements: When did you last review your go-to indemnity provision? In light of Century Surety Company v. Colgate Operating LLC., perhaps you should do it now. The court deemed an innocuous-seeming indemnity provision to impose a ceiling on indemnity obligations under an MSA. Is your MSA consistent with
Maverick Natural Resources, LLC at al v. Glenn D. Cooper Oil & Gas, Inc. is for control freaks wherever you are … and for those of you who advise the aforesaid control freaks.
Cooper sent Maverick a letter offering to purchase oil and gas wells and leases in Crane County for $950,000, to which
Frontier Drilling, LLC v. XTO Energy, Inc. has the indicia of an inequitable result, but as I remind my wife every time she objects to what she deems to be an outrageous jury verdict, we don’t know all the facts and the court’s gotta follow the law, so let’s not judge.
The facts
Drilling
According to Darkhorse Water LP v. Birch Operations Inc. et al., the form of an instrument affecting real property in Texas does not affect the interest conveyed by the instrument. It’s what the document says about the transaction, not what the document calls itself. And you are reminded (because you know should this) that
Parkman v. W&T Offshore, Inc., et al features two contractors playing hot potato over liability for a company man’s alleged negligence. The takeaway: Write your Master Service Agreement to address your liability concerns, and then pay attention to what really happens on the location, regardless of what the MSA says. (And good luck monitoring that
The outcome of a multimillion-dollar suit was in the hands of a jury of 12 good and honorable citizens. The question: Was a certain party an agent, consultant, contractor, or none of the above? One side wanted the jury to be instructed on the legal definitions of those terms. The other wanted the words to