In the Estate of Larry Wayne Ewers is a reminder of a few guidelines for oil and gas investing:
Landowners Vanquished by the Discovery Rule
Co-author Jamie Mills*
Is it worth spending extra dollars, days, and windshield time to discover what mischief your oil and gas operator might be making on your property? The landowner-plaintiffs in Mustafa v. Americo Energy would certainly say so.
The “discovery rule” offered them no help in their suit against their lessee for negligence when visible soil contamination occurred over two years before suit and was filed and the landowners had not visited the property in over six years. The two-year statute of limitations barred the landowners’ claim.
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Texas High Court Invokes the Discovery Rule
In a ruling that could benefit mineral owners who don’t regularly examine county deed records (to-wit, you?) the Supreme Court of Texas in Carl M. Archer Trust No. Three et al v. Tregellas held that the discovery rule delayed the running of the statute of limitations on behalf of the holder of a recorded right of first refusal to purchase mineral interests.
The trustees sued the Tregellases for buying the minerals without allowing the Trust to exercise its ROFR, contending that a contract was formed when they sued more than four years after the Tregellases’ purchase; the suit was their acceptance of the right to purchase the minerals, they said.
According to the Trellgases, the claim was barred by limitations because the suit was filed more than four years after the sale. The trustees responded that even if that were so, limitations should be delayed because they they had no obligation to search the county deed records.
The discovery rule described …
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A Development in Trade-Secret Cases
Co-author Skyler Stuckey
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:
- Lack of certainty in damages does not preclude recovery.
- A “Flexible and imaginative” approach to damages in trade secret cases has its limits
- For the
Texas Supreme Court Relaxes Its Grip on the Discovery Rule
Co-author Sandra L. Mazan
The Texas Supreme Court – that elephants’ graveyard of claims and causes of action – has sided with a lessor-plaintiff who relied on the discovery rule to defeat a limitations defense. For the many with low expectations when the court agreed to review this case, this result is a welcomed surprise.
Delay Strikes Down Another Plaintiff
Why am I always reporting on plaintiffs who wait too long to file their lawsuit? See below for a few possible answers.
In the latest Texas case, Trahan v. Mettlen, the Trahans sued in 2010 on a 2006 warranty deed.
The
Rumsfeld, Morrison and the Discovery Rule in Texas
As Donald Rumsfeld teaches, knowledge can be divided into three categories:
- Known knowns; things that we know that we know;
- known unknowns; that is to say, we know there are some things we do not know; and
- unknown unknowns; the ones we don’t know we don’t know.
Another philosopher, Slavoj Zizek, adds a fourth, for
Texas Supreme Court Will Review Reversal of $20 Million Judgment
Two intriguing factors are present in the Texas Supreme Court’s decision to review Hooks v. Samson Lone Star, LP. It is out of the ordinary for this court to consider a court of appeals reversal of a large jury verdict. And the discovery rule is again in play in response to a statute of
Texas Royalty Owners Beware
Remember the Wilford Brimley character in The Firm? “I get paid to be suspicious when I’ve got nothing to be suspicious about.” Shell Oil Company v. Ross commands you to think like Mr. Brimley. If you suspect your lessee is not paying proper royalties, do not wait to investigate. Even if you don’t suspect anything