News & Analysis as of

Contract Interpretation Property Owners

Gray Reed

Texas Supreme Court Decides Who Must Produce to Maintain an Oil and Gas Lease

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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

Houston Harbaugh, P.C.

Sixth Circuit Rules That Driller Must Establish Marketability of Each Gas Product Under Market Enhancement Clause

Houston Harbaugh, P.C. on

Let’s assume you own 105 acres in Greene County, Pennsylvania. In 2020, you signed an oil and gas lease with ABC Exploration. During the negotiations, you agreed that only those post-production costs which actually...more

Gray Reed

Operator Excused from Texas Relinquishment Act Claims

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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

Gray Reed

Texas Pore Space Ownership – Royalty Calculation

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In Myers-Woodward, LLC v. Underground Services Markham, LLC et al, (discussed previously) the parties disagreed on how to calculate Myers’ royalty on salt produced by Underground....more

McGinnis Lochridge

Affirmative Defenses Are Insufficient to Rebut the Van Dyke Presumption

McGinnis Lochridge on

Under Van Dyke, deeds with double-fraction royalty reservations referencing “1/8” are presumed to reserve a floating royalty interest unless clearly contradicted. Defenses like waiver, ratification, and limitations cannot...more

McGinnis Lochridge

Texas Supreme Court Rules on Modification of NPRIs

McGinnis Lochridge on

In this recent case, the Texas Supreme Court resolved whether ratification of a lease or signing of a stipulation agreement could transform a fixed non-participating royalty interest (NPRI) into a floating NPRI....more

Oliva Gibbs

Reservation or Limitation on Warranty? Navigating the Fine Line — Lessons from Valence Operating Co. v. Davidson

Oliva Gibbs on

In Valence Operating Co. v. Davidson1, the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Appellate District of Texas at Texarkana addressed whether the provision, “all Oil, Gas and other Minerals have been excepted and reserved by former...more

McGinnis Lochridge

Tackling Free-Use and At-The-Well Royalties

McGinnis Lochridge on

This lease royalty case involved a dispute over whether the lessee was permitted to deduct volumes of gas used off the premises to power post-production activities on other gas produced from the same well. Carl v. Hilcorp...more

Moritt Hock & Hamroff LLP

MHH Condo/Co-op Digest, (April 2025)

This newsletter explores the emerging legal topics and issues affecting the condominium and cooperative services industry. Thought-leading attorneys from Moritt Hock & Hamroff’s Condominium and Cooperative Services Practice...more

Fox Rothschild LLP

Seeing the Forest for the Trees, and Protecting it: a “Cap and Trade” Litigation Tale

Fox Rothschild LLP on

In the complex world of “cap and trade” emissions regimes, acquiring credits to offset a company’s pollution portfolio requires decision makers to see the forest for the trees. And sometimes to buy the forest....more

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP

Incorporation Clauses: Does the Subcontractor Really Assume All Obligations of the Prime Contractor?

Many subcontracts contain a catch-all provision requiring the subcontractor to do everything the prime contractor is obligated to do under the prime contract. This is known as an “incorporation” clause because it adopts or...more

Gray Reed

Texas Court Accepts Only One Meaning of “Leased Premises” in an Oil and Gas Lease

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How many different meanings can parties attribute to a term in an oil and gas lease?  Answer: As many as they want, but the court will only use one, says King Operating et al v. Double Eagle Andrews, LLC et al....more

Gray Reed

Texas Court Rules on a Retained Acreage Clause

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Sometimes writing too many alternatives into an oil and gas lease invites confusion … which provokes litigation … which results in disappointment for somebody … or everybody. ...more

Gray Reed

Oil and Gas Lease Addendum Supersedes Printed Form

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In Apache Corp. v. Hill, et al.,  lessors prevailed in a lease construction dispute because of the court’s unsurprising conclusion that a typewritten addendum to oil and gas leases superseded conflicting provisions in the...more

Farrell Fritz, P.C.

Nearly-Century Old Restrictive Covenant Prevents Homeowner From Erecting Fence Along Property Line

Farrell Fritz, P.C. on

In Dodge v. Baker, Plaintiff and Defendants are neighboring property owners of two parcels of land located in the Village of Sodus (the “Village”), in Wayne County, New York (the “Parcels”). Each parcel was created as the...more

BCLP

Briefcase Quarterly Update: Key Real Estate Cases - March 2021

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The Financial Conduct Authority v Arch Insurance (UK) Ltd and others [2021] UKSC 1 - What was it about? ..The Supreme Court gave its view on various business interruption insurance policy clauses. ..The case was...more

Gray Reed

Texas Court Parses Three Retained-Acreage Clauses – Part 2

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Yesterday we discussed aspects of PPC Acquisition Co., LLC, et al. v. Delaware Basin Res., LLC, et al. Today we consider whether the retained-acreage clauses created a special limitation or a covenant and the relationship...more

Gray Reed

Fake Mineral Leases Thwarted by the Texas Legislature

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The 2019 Texas legislature enacted a new Property Code Section 5.152 to protect mineral and royalty owners from a certain species of fraudulent transactions perpetrated on trusting and/or naïve and/or out of state mineral...more

Gray Reed

Option Contract Ruling Reversed by Texas Supreme Court.

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North Shore Energy v. Harkins interpreted an Option Agreement between landowners and a producer over a 400 acre tract. In football they would say the Texas Supreme Court pancaked the plaintiff. In the law, some would call it...more

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