Remnant LLC v. Permico Royalties LLC, et al determined that a 90-year-old claim to ownership of a forfeited corporation was not valid.
The players
Hoffman: By most accounts was a scoundrel and con man who plied his iniquitous trade during the Texas oil boom of the 1930’s. He was indicted for telling people he was
Montgomery Trustee v. ES3 Minerals and Echo Minerals is another Texas fixed or floating royalty case. Before diving into the details, perhaps it’s best to describe the pattern the courts seem to fall into to resolve these disputes. These are general rules of construction one sees time after time in these cases:
In Occidental Permian, Ltd. et al v. Citation 2002 Investment LLC the Supreme Court construed a 1987 assignment from Shell Western E& P Inc. to Citation of a large number of properties. The instrument contained these numerous provisions:
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
The Duhig Rule is back, this time in Echols Minerals LLC, et al v. Green et al.
Framing the discussion, Duhig v. Peavy Moore Lumber Company and Trial v. Dragon
In Duhig the grantor in a general warranty deed warranted title and reserved half of the minerals. The deed did not mention that a
Fletcher v. Merritt resulted in several rulings on the proof required to prevail in a property dispute. Merritt filed a trespass to try title suit (actually a quiet title, which the court construed as TTT) against Fletcher for ownership of a 28.9 foot-wide strip separating their lots. In concluding that the evidence was legally and
So, you found all the heirs and you have an agreed judgment stipulating title. Time to pay royalties? Maybe. And you have signed division orders. Surely, you can pay now? Maybe. These were the questions facing the parties in Perdido Properties LLC v. Devon Energy Production Company et al.
Facts and events
Ross Brady dies
Foreshadowing a grim future for family weddings and funerals, Bell and Petsch v. Petch is a property dispute over five tracts of land in Gillespie County, Texas, in which siblings are the combatants. The events are less important than the takeaway: To win an adverse possession claim, the claimant must establish all six of the
Barkley v. Connally, a “bet-the-farm” case if there ever was one, invokes the merger clause, a basic principle of contract law. Clients and lawyers: Read this analysis so as to avoid boundless grief and disappointment for client and lawyer alike.
Jim Barkley, having undergone bankruptcy and nearing retirement, agreed to sell his farm to
Can the Texas lessee perpetuate his oil and gas lease by “constructive participation” in wells drilled by another? Under the facts in Cromwell v. Anadarko E&P Onshore, LLC, the answer is no.
Cromwell and Anadarko’s wells
In 2009 Cromwell obtained the Ferrer and Tantalo leases covering small fractional interests in several sections. Anadarko owned working