Wikipedia defines “lawfare” as “using legal systems and institutions to achieve a goal.” Some use the term to refer to the misuse of legal systems against an enemy, “such as by damaging or delegitimizing them, wasting their time and money, or winning a public relations victory.” The Fort Worth Court…
Articles Posted in Recent Cases
Nettye Engler Energy v. Bluestone Natural Resources: Texas Supreme Court affirms ruling against royalty owner
Last week the Texas Supreme Court handed down its opinion in Nettye Engler Energy, LP v. Bluestone Natural Resources II, LLC, No. 20-0639, affirming the lower court’s ruling that Engler’s royalty interest bears its share of gas gathering and processing costs. Engler owns a royalty interest in a section of…
Texas Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Hlavinka v. HSC Pipeline – Important Eminent Domain Issues
The Texas Supreme Court agreed to decide Hlavinka v. HSC Pipeline, about which I have written before. The Court’s summary of the issues: The primary issues in this case are whether (1) Texas law grants eminent domain authority to a pipeline owner shipping polymer grade propylene; (2) a pipeline shipping…
Mitchell v. Map Resources — collateral attack on tax foreclosure judgment
I wrote about this case before. Today the Texas Supreme Court agreed to hear the plaintiff’s appeal of a judgment of the El Paso Court of Appeals. The Supreme Court’s summary of issues in the case: At issue in this case is whether courts are barred from considering deed records…
Texas Riverbeds and the Mineral Interest Pooling Act
Pending before the Texas Supreme Court is the petition for review of Ammonite Oil & Gas Corporation challenging the decision of the San Antonio Court of Appeals in Ammonite Oil and Gas Corp v. Railroad Comm’n of Texas, 2021 WL 4976324 (Oct. 27, 2021). The Court of Appeals upheld the…
Two Texas Federal District Courts Weigh In On Post-Production Costs
Two recent decisions from two federal judges in the Southern District of Texas, Houston Division, dismissed suits alleging class actions against Apache and Hilcorp for failure to pay royalties on gas used in gas processing plants. Both construed identical lease provisions. In Carl v. Hilcorp Energy, No. 4:21-CV-02133, Judge Keith…
BPX v. Strickhausen: When does acceptance of royalty constitute ratification of a pooled unit?
Landowners are often faced with a conundrum: can they accept a royalty check if they believe it is in the wrong amount? Ms. Strickhausen owns a half interest in the minerals under a tract of land in La Salle County. Her minerals are subject to a lease owned by BPX…
Travis County Court Holds Railroad Commission Has No Authority to Issue Permits for Allocation and Production Sharing Wells
Today a district court in Travis County held that the Texas Railroad Commission violated the Administrative Procedure Act by informally adopting rules for issuance of allocation and production sharing well permits without following the rule-making procedures of the Act. The Court ruled in an appeal by a mineral owner of…
Collateral Attacks on Tax Foreclosure Sales vs. Due Process — Two Cases from El Paso Court of Appeals
Two unusual cases have recently been decided by the El Paso Court of Appeals, both arising out of the same underlying facts. Both deal with a tax foreclosure on royalty interests. In the late 1990s an attorney and two mineral buyers got together and proposed to taxing districts to handle…
Sundown Energy v. HJSA No. 3 Limited Partnership: Another Poorly Drafted Retained Acreage Clause
Last week the Texas Supreme Court issued a per curiam opinion, without oral argument, reversing the judgment of the El Paso Court of Appeals in Sundown Energy LP v. HJSA No. 3 Limited Partnership, No. 19-10654. The lease at issue covers 30,450 acres in Ward County. The case is another…