26-Step Mechanical Framework For Interpreting Deeds?
Texas courts reject "mechanical" deed interpretation while creating a 28-step framework. Bush v. Yarborough reveals the irony of structured analysis disguised as flexible law.
Producer’s Edge
TEXAS OIL AND GAS LAW BULLETIN
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Supreme Court of Texas Washes Out the “Anadarko Washout”
If your co-tenant drills the well… does your lease still live? The Texas Supreme Court just tackled a high-stakes question that’s shaken up oil and gas titles across the state.
Plain Language Meets Common Sense: Hidden Traps in Oil Patch Contract Interpretation
What happens when a court reads your contract literally for one issue but decides what 'makes sense' for another? A geophysicist just found out.
Unclear Jury Instructions Allow for Various Interpretations
Lario Oil & Gas Co. v. Black Hawk Energy Services, Ltd. highlights the importance of carefully drafting jury instructions and questions.
Texas Business Court Weighs Jurisdiction over Out-of-State Property Interests
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.
Are Statute of Limitations Battles Becoming the New Frontline in Water Injection Cases?
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.
Texas Supreme Court Rejects Forced Pooling of Riverbed Minerals
In this case, the Texas Supreme Court affirmed the Railroad Commission’s rejection of 16 applications to force pool a narrow winding tract of riverbed minerals with neighboring horizontal wells pursuant to the Texas Mineral Interest Pooling Act (“MIPA”).
Harmonizing Assignments and Exhibits
What happens when language in the body of an assignment of oil and gas interests conflicts with descriptions in the exhibits? Can limitations in the exhibit, such as depth references, supersede the operative granting language in the body of an agreement?
Can Letters of Intent Form Binding Purchase Contract?
Purchase and sale transactions often progress through several stages of instruments, like layers of an onion, before they reach the final definitive purchase agreement, and perhaps even more layers before they reach the final assignment and post-closing items.
Calling Dibs! Oil and Gas Security Interests and Texas’ Unique First Purchaser Statute
A security interest, under Texas’ version of the Uniform Commercial Code (the “Texas UCC”), is an interest in personal property or fixtures which secures payment or performance of an obligation. Real property is not subject to the Texas UCC.
The Continued Struggle to Rebut the Van Dyke Presumption
Following the Texas Supreme Court’s ruling in Van Dyke v. Navigator Group that courts interpreting “antiquated instruments” that use 1/8 within a double fraction must begin with the rebuttable presumption that 1/8 refers to the entire mineral estate, Texas courts have wrestled with its implications.
The Perils of Quitclaim Deeds and Late Probate in Texas Royalty Acquisitions
In this recent case (Patch Energy LLC v. Indio Minerals LLC, No. 11-22-00280-CV, 2024 WL 4845955 [Tex. App.—Eastland Nov. 21, 2024, no pet. h.]), competing mineral purchasers claimed superior title to a royalty interest in Midland County, Texas that had been reserved in a 1930 mineral conveyance.
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