REFRESH Nonprofit Basics: Charitable Support for Individuals Affected by a Disaster
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Sunday Book Review: May 11, 2025, The Celebrating Texas Writer’s Month Edition
Daily Compliance News: April 7, 2025, The Whistleblowers Awarded Edition
12 Days of Regulatory Insights: Day 8 - Inside the Texas AG's Office — Regulatory Oversight Podcast
Legal Alert | Reign It In: Federal Court Enjoins DOL's Expansion of Davis-Bacon Coverage
Prelude to the Business Court and 15th Court of Appeals: More Questions Than Answers | Tyler Talbert | Texas Appellate Law Podcast
Exploring Procedural Justice | Judge Steve Leben | Texas Appellate Law Podcast
Focus Groups as a Trial-Preparation Tool | Elizabeth Larrick | Texas Appellate Law Podcast
Tips for Persuasive Legal Writing | Luther Munford | Texas Appellate Law Podcast
Winning Cases on Legal Issues Before and During Trial | Texas Appellate Law Podcast
Why Judges Should Take the Legal Accountability Project Pledge | Judge Doug Nazarian & Aliza Shatzman | Texas Appellate Law Podcast
Tackling Bullying in the Legal Profession | Scott Stolley | Texas Appellate Law Podcast
How Lawyers Should Approach Implementing AI into Their Practices | Tim Armstrong | Texas Appellate Law Podcast
Emerging Ethical Issues For Lawyers Using AI | Derek Bauman | Texas Appellate Law Podcast
Inside the Fourth Court of Appeals’ Clerk’s Office | Michael Cruz | Texas Appellate Law Podcast
Business Courts and Other Highlights of the 88th Texas Legislature | Jerry Bullard | Texas Appellate Law Podcast
The Portia Project Podcast Crossover Episode | M.C. Sungaila | Texas Appellate Law Podcast
The Hill Country Podcast - Carter Keating - Advocating for Texas Agriculture
It seems to be fairly well settled that you can’t use trespass-to-try-title to recover a nonpossessory royalty interest in Texas. What if you call the interest a “mineral interest stripped of every attribute except the right...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
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
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....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
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 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 this lease termination case (Pruett v. River Land Holdings, LLC, No. 03-22-00478-CV, 2024 WL 1745652, at *1 [Tex. App.—Austin Apr. 24, 2024, no pet.]), the Austin Court of Appeals was tasked with examining a cessation of...more
This recent case (Rock River Minerals, LP v. Pioneer Nat. Res. USA Inc., No. 08-23-00216-CV, 2024 WL 4528917 [Tex. App.—El Paso Oct. 18, 2024, no pet. h.]) explored whether an assignment of an overriding royalty interest,...more
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
A lessee who halts production for less than 40 days and resumes without drilling or reworking does not terminate the lease. The continuous development clause keeps the lease active, and the cessation clause allows resumed...more
In a watershed ruling, the El Paso Court of Appeals extends "waste" liability under the Nat. Res. Code to commercial disposal well operator—potentially increasing exposure for this critical wastewater industry—while...more
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
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
On April 3, 2025, a Texas state appeals court reversed a trial court order awarding Exxon Mobil $25 million under an umbrella insurance policy issued by Lexington Insurance Co. to Brock Services Ltd. The appeals court found...more
We begin with a word from your sponsor. After enduring several generative AI tutorials, we urge you to keep on reading Energy and the Law. Why? Our blog is more accurate, at least a little “fun”, offers insightful musical...more
Lithium continues to be a rising star of the natural resources world, and Texas is working to stay on top of the legal issues related to the extraction of lithium from produced water and brine. In this update, we discuss...more
The growling and barking presented by a claim for tortious interference is often far worse than the bite. Consider Segundo Navarro Drilling, Ltd. v. Chilton , which is a good example of that phenomenon in an oil and gas...more
Unitex WI, LLC v. CT Land & Cattle Co., LLC, No. 07-23-00390-CV, 2024 WL 3249338 (Tex. App.—Amarillo June 28, 2024, pet. filed)...more
Winter Storm Uri sent shockwaves through Texas, freezing gas supplies at a time of critical need and plunging the state into widespread power outages. In the aftermath, the courts have been flooded with force majeure claims,...more
Alas, we might never know. Opiela v. Railroad Commission of Texas and Magnolia Oil & Gas Operating, was a challenge to the Commission’s authority to issue permits for allocation wells and wells drilled under Production...more
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
On June 4, 2024, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed the dismissal of an "at the well" royalty holder's class action lawsuit after the Texas Supreme Court held that Hilcorp Energy Co. properly...more