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Property Owners Mineral Rights

Jackson Walker

Texas Supreme Court Clarifies Default Ownership of Produced Water in Oil & Gas Leases – Key Questions Remain

Jackson Walker on

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

McGinnis Lochridge

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

McGinnis Lochridge on

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

Vinson & Elkins LLP

Texas Supreme Court Clarifies Ownership of Salt Caverns

Vinson & Elkins LLP on

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

Bracewell LLP

Surface vs. Mineral Owners: Texas Supreme Court Settles Salt Cavern Ownership Dispute

Bracewell LLP on

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

Gray Reed

Texas Pore Space Ownership – Royalty Calculation

Gray Reed on

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

Houston Harbaugh, P.C.

Ohio Appeals Court Rules that Horizontal Shale Well Was “On” the Leased Premises

Houston Harbaugh, P.C. on

Let’s assume you own a 175 acre farm in Washington County. Your grandfather acquired the farm back in 1948 from Farmer Brown (the “1948 Deed”). Your grandfather always said that he bought both the surface and oil and gas. In...more

Gray Reed

Ratifications, Stipulations, and Fixed vs. Floating Royalty Interests

Gray Reed on

After four stops at the lower courts, Kenneth Hahn v. ConocoPhillips has been resolved by the Supreme Court of Texas. The Court opined on the effect of two instruments often used to clarify land titles in Texas: ...more

Gray Reed

Timing Matters: Deadlines for Filing a Texas Mineral Lien Under Chapter 56

Gray Reed on

Not all liens are created equal. The most commonly discussed lien is related to construction improvements under Chapter 53 of the Texas Property Code. For those in the oil & gas/energy segment lien rights exist under Chapter...more

Houston Harbaugh, P.C.

Pennsylvania Superior Court Reaffirms the Dunham Rule

Houston Harbaugh, P.C. on

Let’s assume you inherited a 150 acre farm in Lycoming County that has been owned by your family since 1909. In 2020, you are approached by ABC Drilling about a new oil and gas lease for the farm. You retain counsel and...more

Oliva Gibbs

“After Acquired Title” to Remain a Caged-Bird after Dellit v. Schleder, 2022 MT 196, 518 P.3d 830

Oliva Gibbs on

Introduction - “No one has a vested interest in any rule of common law.” Meech v. Hillhaven W., 776 P.2d 488, 494 (Mont. 1989). Luckily the Montana legislature has codified the common law rule of after-acquired title as a...more

Houston Harbaugh, P.C.

Landowners Should Ensure that Solar Farm Payments Retain Their Value Over Time

Houston Harbaugh, P.C. on

Leases for solar energy facilities offer property owners the potential for a predictable, long-term revenue stream. But, because of the potential decades-long duration of a lease for solar energy facilities, things like...more

Oliva Gibbs

Making Your Words Count

Oliva Gibbs on

A recent decision by the Fourth Court of Appeals reiterates the Texas judiciary’s commitment to interpreting the four corners of a document where language is unambiguous, and to giving plain and ordinary meaning to the...more

DarrowEverett LLP

Betting the Farm on Solar: Leasing and Due Diligence Considerations

DarrowEverett LLP on

While imagery of the American Dream used to be picturesque farm towns, robust bounties and families gathered around the table for a meal, values have shifted, and once-robust farming communities have become forgotten lands,...more

Patton Sullivan Brodehl LLP

Interpreting the Scope of Mineral Rights Reservations

One of the first lessons in every first-year real property law class is that property rights are commonly referred to as a “bundle of sticks” that can be sold or acquired as individual parts or a whole. In a case recently...more

Gray Reed

Defense of a Deed Signed by a 12-Year-Old Fails

Gray Reed on

Foreshadowing a grim future for family weddings and funerals, Bell and Petsch v. Petch is a property dispute over five tracts of land in Gillespie County, Texas, in which siblings are the combatants. The events are less...more

Amundsen Davis LLC

Long-Term Impact of Solar Panels on Property

Amundsen Davis LLC on

Solar panels are increasing in popularity for both residential and commercial properties. Some property owners may consider installing solar panels to meet their own energy needs; others may consider installing them to...more

Gray Reed

Were the Mineral Deeds a Gift or a Sale? It Made a Difference.

Gray Reed on

The question presented in Aaron v. Fisher et al: Did mineral deeds bestow separate property upon the grantees by gift, or did they convey a community property interest to the grantees and their spouses by sale for...more

Steptoe & Johnson PLLC

Ohio Supreme Court Decision Provides Further Clarity on the Common Law Distinction Between a Reservation and an Exception

On February 15, 2022, the Supreme Court of Ohio issued its decision in Peppertree Farms, L.L.C., et al. v. Thonen, et al., providing further clarity on the common law distinction between a “reservation” of a property interest...more

Roetzel & Andress

One Less Way for Ohio Landowners to Challenge Royalty Severances

Roetzel & Andress on

On February 15, 2022, the Ohio Supreme Court issued a significant decision in Peppertree Farms, L.L.C. v. Thonen establishing that, unless expressly stated otherwise, an oil and gas royalty interest retained in a deed...more

Lowndes

Mineral Reservations and Real Property in Florida

Lowndes on

It is not unusual to find mineral reservations in the chain of title to real properties located in Florida. When the State of Florida first conveyed title to state owned lands, it was customary for the state to reserve an...more

Gray Reed

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

Gray Reed on

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

Gray Reed on

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

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