Co-author Brooke SizerRozel Operating v. Crown Point Holdings, LLC, et al., reminds one of the need to understand and apply the meaning of terms used in a statute one is attempting to enforce. And imaginative theories don’t work without evidence to support them.
Continue Reading How Not to Secure an Oil Well Lien in Louisiana
An Oil Patch Morality Play – Part 2
Co-author Chance Decker
We recently discussed Freeman v. Harleton. The opinion shows the transaction as a bunco job. Here’s more:
- Bufkin and Wayne Freeman have done business together since the 1980s. They had a co-development agreement with Harleton.
- Long-standing agreements among the three of them made it clear that Harleton owned 50 percent of the Geisler Unit.
- Chesapeake never talked to the Freeman defendants, who were not parties to the letter agreement for the sale.
- Chesapeake didn’t contract non-ops because Chesapeake believed the letter agreement prevented them from doing so.
- Bufkin would bring non-ops to each closing, and they would receive offers to sell on the same terms as Buffco.
- Wayne Freeman, who attended his closing, knew Harleton’s ownership interest in the unit but did not raise the issue because, ”It did not occur to him to do so.” He said “[I]t was Chesapeake’s obligation to figure out who owned what” in the unit.
- As a non-op and non-signatory Freeman never made representations or warranties.
- To Chesapeake it became obvious that Bufkin had known when he closed that the ownership in the Geisler Unit was different than what he said it was.
- The due-diligence landman’s work was entirely from Buffco/Twin files. He didn’t check the county records because he was told by Bufkin and team that his title determination was correct.
- The landman came to believe that Buffco removed materials from files that would have revealed Harleton’s interest in the deep rights.
- See the opinion for federal Judge Gilstrap’s view of the defendants’ activities. it was adopted by the state court trial judge.
Texas Mineral Deeds Survive the Statute of Frauds
According to Mr. Bumble, the law is an ass. I disagree (Know a lawyer who’s an ass? That’s another conversation). In Davis v. Mueller the law was not an ass, per se, but as applied by the Texas Supreme Court it showed little mercy.
A refresher on conveyances
- According to the Statute of Frauds, a writing conveying real property must furnish within itself, or by reference to some other existing writing, the means or data by which the land to be conveyed may be identified with reasonable certainty.
- A Mother Hubbard clause is a catchall in a deed to capture small, overlooked, or incorrectly described interests.
- A Mother Hubbard clause is not effective to convey a significant property interest not adequately described in the deed.
- In Texas a general conveyance of all of a grantor’s property in a geographic area is given effect.
Continue Reading Texas Mineral Deeds Survive the Statute of Frauds
Texas Subsurface Trespass Law Clarified
Co-author Chance Decker
We know that in Texas the mineral owner has the right to explore for and produce the minerals. What does that leave for the surface owner? In Lightning Oil Company v. Anadarko E&P Onshore, LLC the Texas Supreme Court tells us he owns the right to possess the specific place or space where the minerals are located. Absent pooling or some other contractual arrangement, with that comes the right to grant (for a price) or deny an off-lease operator the right to drill through the mineral estate to reach minerals under an adjacent tract.
Continue Reading Texas Subsurface Trespass Law Clarified
Did This “Deed” Convey Fee Simple or an Easement?
Co-author Chance Decker
BNSF v. Chevron Midcontinent LP et al. asked whether a 1903 deed granted BNSF’s predecessor a strip of land in fee simple absolute or only an easement. The result: BNSF holds only an easement. There’s more to the case than an analysis of particular language in one sui generis contract. What else
Production-in-Paying-Quantities Analysis Confirmed
We have a new format. And we’re still gluten free!
Co-author Alexandria Twiss
In BP America v. Laddex, Ltd. the Texas Supreme Court affirmed that in a lease termination case the trial court cannot limit the jury’s consideration of production in paying quantities to an arbitrary time period. The court also applied the Rule Against
The Parol Evidence Rule at Work in a Mineral Transaction
A phrase currently in common usage begins with “‘cluster” and ends with a vulgarity that has been around for centuries. Saheid v. Kennedy presents facts that pretty much exemplify the meaning of the phrase:
- While living in England, start out to buy a hotel in New Orleans,
- have no experience in Louisiana mineral transactions,
- when
Does it Matter if a Deed Correction is Material?
Co-author Katie English
McCabe Trust v. Ranger Energy LLC, is the consequence of failing to comply with the Texas Property Code when correcting real property conveyances.
The simplified facts
- In 2008, Mark III executes a mortgage granting a bank a security
The Constructive Notice Doctrine in Action
Today’s “pay attention” edition begins with a quiz. What is the most important thing to read carefully:
a. Speed limit sign in small-town (insert name of Southern state).
b. Itinerary for that dream vacation, the one with multiple layovers of varying durations in airports and time zones far from your own.
c. Title documents to
Your Louisiana Override – Where Does it Come From?
It’s a multiple choice question:
a. The royalty interest reserved by the lessor.
b. The drillbit, courtesy of fearless, risk-taking entrepreneurs, the backbone of the great American free enterprise system and the sworn enemies of collectivism.
c. A cache of DNC emails, discovered by Vladimir Putin himself.
d. The working interest.
e. It doesn’t matter.