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Appellate Courts Oil & Gas

McGinnis Lochridge

When Force Majeure Isn't Enough: The Causation Trap That Cost Kinder Morgan $100 Million

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In case you somehow forgot, the 2021 Valentines Day storm coined “Snovid,” “Snowmageddon,” or officially labeled Winter Storm Uri, blanketed Texas in snow and ice, even bringing snowfall to Galveston Beach. As temperatures...more

McGinnis Lochridge

When $180 Million Rides on an Expert's Supplementation Decision

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$180M oil case lost when Apollo refused to fix expert's flawed damages model. Without expert testimony meant no damages recovery in technical fields. In Apollo Exploration, LLC v. Apache Corporation, No. 11-19-00183-CV, 2025...more

McGinnis Lochridge

26-Step Mechanical Framework For Interpreting Deeds? Texas courts reject "mechanical" deed interpretation while creating a 28-step...

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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....more

McGinnis Lochridge

Plain Language Meets Common Sense: Hidden Traps in Oil Patch Contract Interpretation

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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...more

Holland & Knight LLP

Up in the Air: SCOTUS Creates New Venue Test for Clean Air Act Cases

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The U.S. Supreme Court issued a pair of decisions in EPA v. Calumet Shreveport Refining and Oklahoma v. EPA on June 18, 2025, resolving two related circuit splits regarding proper venue for challenging certain U.S....more

WilmerHale

SCOTUS to Decide the Scope of Federal Officer Removal for Federal Contractors

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On Monday, June 16, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari in Chevron U.S.A. Inc. v. Plaquemines Parish, a case about the extent to which federal contractors can remove lawsuits to federal court under the federal...more

Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP

Fifth Circuit Clouds Threshold Dose Analysis in Ruffin v. BP

Plaintiffs in toxic tort cases must prove both general and specific causation, generally through the testimony of experts. Experts must establish that a specific chemical exposure can (and did) cause the specific injury at...more

Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease LLP

Ohio Appellate Court Holds Commission’s Approvals of Nominations for Leasing State Lands Are Not Subject to Appeal

Recently, in Save Ohio Parks v. Oil & Gas Land Mgt. Comm., 2025-Ohio-847, Ohio’s Tenth District Court of Appeals held that R.C. 119.12 does not provide a right to appeal the decisions of the Oil & Gas Land Management...more

Gray Reed

Texas Supreme Court Allows Enforcement of a JOA Debt After Foreclosure

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In Steelhead Midstream Partners, LLC v. CL III Funding Holding Company, LLC, the Texas Supreme Court authorized a pipeline owner’s breach-of-contract claim—alleging a co-owner used foreclosure to avoid cost-sharing...more

Oliva Gibbs

Coverting a “Fixed” to a “Floating” NPRI: What (If Anything) Does ConocoPhillips v. Hahn Add to the Conversation?

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In ConocoPhillips Co. v. Hahn, the Supreme Court of Texas addressed whether a “fixed” nonparticipating royalty interest (“NPRI”) was later converted to a “floating” NPRI. The court weighed two possible means of this...more

Houston Harbaugh, P.C.

Texas Appellate Court Rules That ‘Free of Cost’ Clause In 1960 Deed Prohibits The Deduction of Post-Production Costs

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Let’s assume you own a 135 acre farm in Tioga County, Pennsylvania. In 2020, you negotiate a new oil and gas lease with XYZ Drilling Company. During the negotiations, you insist on a cost free, no deduction royalty of 17%. ...more

Houston Harbaugh, P.C.

Texas Appeals Court Rules that Surface Owner Could Not Enforce Pipeline Burial Covenant in Oil and Gas Lease

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Let’s assume that you purchase a 105 acre farm in Greene County in 2022. You purchase only the surface estate while the seller, Farmer Jones, retains the underlying oil and gas rights. You intend to grow corn and winter...more

Roetzel & Andress

Court of Appeals Issues Significant Mineral Trespass Opinion Upholding Multi-Million-Dollar Future Damages Award

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On January 18, 2023, in TERA, LLC v. Rice Drilling D, LLC, et al., --- N.E.3d ----, 2023-Ohio-273, the Seventh District Court of Appeals issued a key decision concerning mineral trespass law in Ohio. The court of appeals...more

Houston Harbaugh, P.C.

Is Deducting Fuel Costs Authorized by Your Lease?

Houston Harbaugh, P.C. on

Deducting fuel costs from landowner royalties continues to be an ongoing and widespread practice. Not only are landowners denied a royalty on the fuel gas volume, but they are also having that same “cost” deducted from their...more

Roetzel & Andress

Court of Appeals Rules That Oil and Gas Company Has Ongoing Obligation to Restore Property Despite General Release of Damages in...

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On April 11, 2022, the Fourth District Court of Appeals issued a significant decision in Zimmerview Dairy Farms, LLC v. Protégé Energy III LLC establishing that a general release of damages signed in connection with a pad...more

Zelle  LLP

Insurer Implications As 3 Climate Suits Return To State Courts

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After years of litigation over the proper venue for climate change lawsuits, several federal courts of appeal have recently sent those cases to state courts across the nation, where they are now set to move forward. This...more

Adams & Reese

Redefining Willful Misconduct: Texas Appellate Court Announces a New, Lower Standard

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In Apache Corp. v. Castex Offshore, Inc., the Texas Fourteenth District Court of Appeal announced that showing an oil-and-gas operator’s “willful misconduct” under an operating agreement’s exculpatory clause does not require...more

Roetzel & Andress

Clean Water Act Update

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On March 28, 2017, former President Donald Trump issued Executive Order 13783, “Promoting Energy Independence and Economic Growth.” The Executive Order directed the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (“Corps”) to immediately review...more

Roetzel & Andress

Ohio Supreme Court Provides Guidance On Key Marketable Title Act Issue Regarding Preservation Of Severed Mineral Interests

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On March 16, 2021, the Supreme Court of Ohio issued another important opinion in the ongoing tug of war between surface landowners and severed mineral owners over the ownership of valuable mineral rights in Ohio. In Erickson...more

Husch Blackwell LLP

Mineral Owner vs. Solar Company: New Texas Case Addresses Key Issue

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A recent Texas case, Lyle v. Midway Solar, S.W. 3d, 2020 WL 7769632 (Tex. App. Ct., El Paso 83rd Dist. 2020), addressed a challenge that many solar developers wrestle with: how to handle minerals owners. The El Paso Court of...more

Roetzel & Andress

Roetzel & Andress: 2020 Appellate Year In Review

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The Appellate Law Practice Group of Roetzel & Andress represented clients in a wide variety of cases in both state and federal courts, appealing adverse trial court rulings and successfully defending lower court victories on...more

Best Best & Krieger LLP

“You Can’t Stand in the Way of Progress”

California Appellate Court Says Public Utility Must Pay to Relocate Pipelines to Make Way for Public Transportation Project - In a landmark victory for transportation agencies, the California Court of Appeal brought...more

Porter Hedges LLP

Recent Victory For All Texas Landowners Facing Pipeline Condemnation

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Porter Hedges recently scored a significant victory for landowners Terrance and Kenneth Hlavinka and their families (“the Hlavinkas”) against HSC Pipeline Partners, a subsidiary of Enterprise Products Partners. On June 18,...more

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