A Texas appeals court held that grantors retained executive rights beyond the fractional mineral interests they conveyed and that a 1958 deed reserved a fixed 1/32 royalty, rebutting the presumption established in Van Dyke v. Navigator Group.
A Texas appeals court held that a non-operating lessee must pay royalty on a cotenant’s production beginning with first production, regardless of payout, and affirmed an attorney’s fee award exceeding $500,000 despite only $17,588 in stipulated interest damages.
A Texas appeals court held that minimum-volume deficiency fees under terminal throughput agreements and crude oil price reductions qualify as deductible post-production transportation costs from an overriding royalty.
A Texas federal court addressed royalty underpayments, lease termination notice requirements, and NGL deductions, holding that underpayments may constitute nonpayment but that termination notices must identify specific unpaid royalties.
The San Antonio Court of Appeals clarified that TCPA protections do not extend to claims merely tied to regulatory filings. After the 2019 amendments, the protected communication must be the gravamen of the claim—mere but-for causation is not enough.
A Texas court held that an assignment of overriding royalty interests covering “all depths” was not limited to a specific formation, rejecting the argument that references to a unit agreement implied vertical limits on the conveyed interests.
