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An Oil and Gas Receivership Ain’t Over ‘Til It’s Over

By Charles Sartain on October 18, 2024
Posted in Land Titles, Title Issues

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…

Texas Surface Owner Denied the Right To Buried Pipeline

By Charles Sartain on September 26, 2024
Posted in pipelines, Title Issues

Unitex WI LLC v. CT Land and Cattle Company LLC rejected the surface owner’s effort to force the mineral lessee to bury a pipeline below plow depth. Surface owner CT’s claim was based on a mineral lease signed by former owner Fuller in 1948. CT had acquired the surface from Senns, who acquired it…

How Courts Look at Fixed or Floating Royalty Disputes

By Charles Sartain on July 26, 2024
Posted in Land Titles, Royalty Disputes, Title Issues
  • To the extent
…

Supreme Court of Texas Sorts Out Complicated Assignment of Oil and Gas Leases

By Charles Sartain on June 3, 2024
Posted in Contract Disputes, Land Titles, Title Issues
  • 1st granting clause: … all right, title and interest in the … leasehold estates described in
…

Texas Court Rules in Suit Over Minerals in Another State

By Charles Sartain on May 3, 2024
Posted in Litigation, Title Issues

Scheming to find the most remote and inaccessible county in Texas (my vote is Yoakum but there is no paucity of candidates) in which to dish out Texas home-town justice to an out-of-state defendant? Consider Bauer and Braxton Minerals II v. Braxton Minerals III.

THE TAKEAWAY

Before paying your filing fee, be very sure the…

Floating Beats Fixed in Another Royalty Dispute

By Charles Sartain on March 28, 2024
Posted in Royalty Disputes, Title Issues

Recent Texas royalty cases seem to feature litigants on the fixed royalty side trying, more often than not in vain, to escape the clutches of Van Dyke v. Navigator and Hysaw v. Dawkins. See those decisions for the history of how the Supreme Court got to where it is. (Regardless of which side you’re…

Duhig Rule Claim is Unsuccessful

By Charles Sartain on November 13, 2023
Posted in Land Titles, Title Issues

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…

Court Addresses Questions in Trespass to Try Title/Adverse Possession Suit

By Charles Sartain on November 10, 2023
Posted in Land Titles, Title Issues

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…

Merger Clause Defeats Claim to the Farmhouse

By Charles Sartain on October 16, 2023
Posted in Land Titles, Title Issues

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…

Supreme Court of Texas Tackles the Meaning of “Predecessors”

By Charles Sartain on July 31, 2023
Posted in Contract Disputes, Title Issues

The plain, ordinary, and generally accepted meaning of a word doesn’t mean “anything goes”. It depends on context, says the Supreme Court of Texas in Finley Resources Inc. v.  Headington Royalty Inc., a dispute over the meaning of “predecessors”. For the underlying facts see our post on the court of appeals decision.

The release…

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About Charles Sartain

I have been helping clients of all types resolve their commercial disputes for most of my 35 years as a lawyer. Of the many industries in which I have worked, the energy business is the most fascinating…More

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