If you’ve ever tried to escape penalties for the operator/producer’s failure to comply with La. R.S §30:103.1 and §103.2, take comfort in XXI Oil & Gas, LLC v. Hilcorp Energy Company. You are not alone. No excuse has satisfied the courts, and there is none here.
The statutes (links above) require information
Gemini Insurance Company at al v. Drilling Risk Management Inc construed control-of-well and redrill/extra-expense provisions in an insurance contract.
The question and the rule
The question was whether an insurance policy covered post-blowout expenses (see facts below), and whether each blowout constituted a separate “occurrence”? If so, there would be two deductibles. The rule is
Longoria v. ExxonMobil is like throwing a big party but failing to invite all the right guests.
The Longorias – 59 of them – sued producer-defendants over ownership of 9,200 acres in Brooks County, Texas, acquired in the 1800’s. Plaintiffs claimed their ownership was not recognized in subsequent conveyances and judgments and sought an accounting
We discussed SEC v. Arcturus et al last week and promised more. Here it is.
Did defendants commit securities fraud?
It doesn’t matter. Violations of Sections 5 of the Securities Act and 15.A of the Exchange Act are strict liability offenses; the defendant’s state of mind is not a consideration. Thus, because they sold unregistered
Here are several things to note about SEC v. Arcturus et al:
Gardiner v. Crosstex North Texas Pipeline LLC, has brought clarity to Texas nuisance law. It took the Texas Supreme Court 54 pages; we have it in under 600 words. (We explained the lower court case here.)
The big trade-secret case, Southwestern Energy v. Berry-Helfand, reported on these pages here and here, has been worked over by the Texas Supreme Court. Highlights:
In the spirit of Charles Ponzi, today we offer advice for attracting special attention from powerful federal authorities who want to punish you. Helms and Kaelin marketed a limited partnership to hold royalty interests in 2,000 oil and gas wells Here’s how they did it, and you can too!
Make promises
In a private placement
Co-author Alexandria Moore
If you want to get to the meaning of a case, one exercise is to put yourself in the shoes of one participant or the other and see how you react to the events. (This also works well with Bible stories, by the way.) Last week we discussed Huff Energy fund LP
Co-author Alexandria Moore
Let’s say two fellows are in the oil business and one of his activities is as a director of an exploration company. A deal comes in, they present it to the company, but take it for themselves, Did they steal the opportunity from the company? In Huff Energy Fund LP v. Longview