This Article examines legal damages in the oil and gas industry. More specifically, this Article identifies the rules for measuring common legal damages in oil and gas cases. Further, this Article seeks to identify all potential…
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/ Commercial Law & Contracts, Energy & Utilities
The El Paso Court of Appeals recently published an opinion that provides what might be characterized as 26-step step system for analyzing a deed that (perhaps inadvertently) highlights a growing irony in Texas jurisprudence…
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/ Commercial Law & Contracts, Energy & Utilities, Real Estate - Commercial
What happens when a court reads your contract literally for one issue but decides what 'makes sense' for another? A geophysicist just found out. In early April 2025, the Amarillo Court of Appeals reversed in part and affirmed…
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/ Civil Procedure, Commercial Law & Contracts, Energy & Utilities
When can a Texas court rule on New Mexico property disputes? The answer hinges on whether the property interest is 'central' or just 'incidental' to the real fight…
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/ Civil Procedure, Commercial Law & Contracts, Energy & Utilities, Real Estate - Commercial, Real Estate - Residential
When your neighbor's wastewater tanks your oil wells, when exactly can you sue? A Texas court wrestles with a timing question reshaping industry battles…
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/ Civil Procedure, Civil Remedies, Constitutional Law, Energy & Utilities, Environmental Law
The so called “Anadarko Washout” involves a washout of oil and gas leases on undivided working interests owned by non-operating mineral cotenants. This particular species of lease washouts is based on two recent cases from the…
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/ Commercial Law & Contracts, Energy & Utilities
In this case (Scout Energy Mgmt., LLC v. Taylor Properties, No. 23-1014, 2024 WL 5249490 [Tex. Dec. 31, 2024]), the Texas Supreme Court held that vague notations on shut-in royalty check receipts cannot modify an unambiguous…
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/ Commercial Law & Contracts, Energy & Utilities, Real Estate - Commercial
A landowner’s failure to provide consent for surface use related to oil and gas operations does not necessarily preclude the lessee from conducting activities if the lease agreements allow surface use…
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/ Commercial Law & Contracts, Energy & Utilities, Environmental Law, Real Estate - Commercial
In this lease termination case (Pruett v. River Land Holdings, LLC, No. 03-22-00478-CV, 2024 WL 1745652, at *1 [Tex. App.—Austin Apr. 24, 2024, no pet.]), the Austin Court of Appeals was tasked with examining a cessation of…
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/ Commercial Law & Contracts, Energy & Utilities, Real Estate - Commercial
In Myers-Woodward, LLC v. Underground Services Markham, LLC, No. 22-0878, 2025 WL 4356581 (Tex. May 16, 2025), the Texas Supreme Court resolved two significant issues affecting mineral owners and surface owners: (1) who owns the…
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/ Commercial Law & Contracts, Energy & Utilities, Real Estate - Commercial
This recent case (Rock River Minerals, LP v. Pioneer Nat. Res. USA Inc., No. 08-23-00216-CV, 2024 WL 4528917 [Tex. App.—El Paso Oct. 18, 2024, no pet. h.]) explored whether an assignment of an overriding royalty interest, which…
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/ Commercial Law & Contracts, Energy & Utilities, Real Estate - Commercial
Under Van Dyke, deeds with double-fraction royalty reservations referencing “1/8” are presumed to reserve a floating royalty interest unless clearly contradicted. Defenses like waiver, ratification, and limitations cannot…
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/ Civil Procedure, Commercial Law & Contracts, Energy & Utilities, Real Estate - Commercial
A lessee who halts production for less than 40 days and resumes without drilling or reworking does not terminate the lease. The continuous development clause keeps the lease active, and the cessation clause allows resumed…
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/ Commercial Law & Contracts, Energy & Utilities
In this recent case, the Texas Supreme Court resolved whether ratification of a lease or signing of a stipulation agreement could transform a fixed non-participating royalty interest (NPRI) into a floating NPRI…
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/ Commercial Law & Contracts, Energy & Utilities, Real Estate - Commercial
Generally speaking, insurance producers face fairly routine obligations when procuring cover. Every state imposes a general duty to exercise that degree of care, skill and diligence a reasonable producer would exhibit to his…
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/ Commercial Law & Contracts, Consumer Protection, Insurance, Professional Malpractice
