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Does the Texas Supreme Court’s Decision in Cactus Water Services v. COG Operating Provide Guidance About Lithium and Rare Earth Minerals Ownership in Pennsylvania? Lithium demand is expected to continue to increase as...more
The Tyler Court of Appeals reversed a $2.5 million judgment against pipeline successors (Coffeyville Resources Crude Transportation, LLC v. ExxonMobil Pipeline Co., No. 12-23-00276-CV, 2025 WL 356222 [Tex. App.—Tyler Jan. 31,...more
On June 27, 2025, the Texas Supreme Court rendered a 32-page opinion in the case of Southern Methodist Univer. v. South Central Jurisdictional Conference of the United Methodist Church, No. 23-0703, __ S.W.3d __ (Tex. June...more
On June 27, 2025, the Texas Supreme Court issued a pivotal decision in Cactus Water Services, LLC v. COG Operating, LLC, holding that under the language of the granting clause found in the standard oil and gas lease, produced...more
In this case, Texas Crude Energy, LLC (Texas Crude) and Warwick-Athena, LLC (Warwick) (collectively, the non-operators) sued Burlington Resources Oil & Gas Co., LP (Burlington or the operator) after Burlington refused to...more
The 2025 biennial session of the Texas Legislature brought changes to the Texas Business Court that was created in 2023. With the passage of House Bill 40 (HB 40), the legislature expanded the Business Court’s jurisdiction to...more
In Cactus Water v. COG Operating, the Supreme Court affirmed that mineral lessee COG, not water rights owner Cactus (who derived it rights from the surface owner), has the right to possession, custody, control, and...more
On June 27, 2025, the Texas Supreme Court issued its long-awaited decision in Cactus Water Services, LLC v. COG Operating, LLC, No. 23-0676, resolving a high-stakes dispute over the ownership of produced water—a vexing...more
In addition to two other newly enacted Texas laws coming out of the most recent legislative session affecting the construction industry, Governor Greg Abbott also signed HB 2960, providing updates to Texas’ “home-rule”...more
On June 20, 2025, Governor Abbott signed House Bill 40 (HB 40) into law, which, among other things, expands the jurisdiction of the recently created Texas Business Court. HB 40’s changes to the Business Court include: (1)...more
As a part of Vinson & Elkins’ Texas Business Court Quarterly Update, the following update summarizes the Texas Business Court opinions—categorized by primary issue—that have been released since September 1, 2024 through the...more
In a significant decision for Texas property and energy law, the Texas Supreme Court has affirmed the Eighth Court of Appeals’ ruling in Cactus Water Services, LLC v. COG Operating, LLC, holding that produced water — a...more
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
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....more
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in United States Trinity Energy Services., L.L.C. v. Southeast Directional Drilling, L.L.C., 135 F.4th 303 (5th Cir. 2025) ruled that "manifest disregard of the law" is not a...more
The takeaway from DDR Weinert, Limited et al v. Ovintiv USA Inc. is that equitable recoupment rescued a royalty payor from its mistaken payment of royalties. But first, The events. The Richters were mineral lessors...more
On May 16, 2025, the Texas Supreme Court issued a decision ruling that, absent specific contractual language, surface owners retain ownership of the caverns created by salt mining operations. The issue of ownership of salt...more
In its May 22, 2025, memorandum opinion, the Business Court of Texas dismissed all claims against Christopher Doyle (PEC’s CEO) and certain Blackstone-affiliated entities. The Court held that § 13.9 of the Third Amended...more
As an update to Vinson & Elkins’ prior coverage of House Bill 40 (“H.B. 40”)—new legislation that expands the jurisdiction and operations of the recently opened Texas business courts—both houses of the Texas Legislature...more
On May 22, 2025, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit (“Fifth Circuit”) addressed a dispute between ANR Pipeline Company (“ANR”) and FERC. The case centered on the interpretation of ANR’s tariff and whether it...more
In Cromwell v. Anadarko E & P Onshore LLC the Supreme Court of Texas did what it so often does: In order to provide “legal certainty and predictability”, the Court considered the plain language of a contract in order to...more
The Texas Supreme Court has settled the issue of who owns the voids, known as salt caverns, created in subsurface salt formations (whether naturally occurring or caused as a result of salt mining operations). In...more
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...more
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...more
In Williams O & G Resources, LLC v. Diamondback Energy, Inc., a federal magistrate judge concluded that the Texas Relinquishment Act does not apply to public-school lands patented after 1931. The report and recommendation was...more