Bringing Family Law Expertise to SCOTX | Justice Debra Lehrmann | Texas Appellate Law Podcast
Potential Changes to SCOTX Petition Practice | Justice Evan Young | Texas Appellate Law Podcast
An Unexpected Path to the Appellate Bench | Justice Rebeca Huddle | Texas Appellate Law Podcast
Texas Supreme Court Draws Line on Attorney Immunity Privilege
Handling the Texas Supreme Court’s Public Information | Osler McCarthy | Texas Appellate Law Podcast
Paths to Texas Judicial Selection Reform | Chief Justice Tom Phillips | Texas Appellate Law Podcast
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
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
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 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
A stream of judicial decisions in the pipeline will have important implications for the energy industry. The three cases discussed below are among those that energy litigators and industry professionals are watching in 2024....more
Underground salt caverns are commonly used for the storage of liquids including liquefied hydrocarbons. These caverns are created by solution mining of salt from inside underground salt formations and could play a pivotal...more
Does a former working-interest owner of a well bear continuing responsibility for a defective gas line despite having conveyed its ownership interest? The line was constructed by the former owner as operator of record, and it...more
In Chalker Energy Partners III LLC v. LeNorman Operating LLC, the Texas Supreme Court reaffirmed its belief in the sanctity of the written contract and the freedom of parties to negotiate and agree to contracts as they...more
On January 31, 2020, the Texas Supreme Court (the “Court”) affirmed the 2017 judgment of the Dallas Court of Appeals that Texas law upholds the rights of contracting parties to agree not to be partners unless certain...more
In Energy Transfer Partners, L.P. v. Enter. Prods. Partners, L.P., one pipeline company sued another for breaching a duty of loyalty that allegedly arose out of a partnership to develop a pipeline. No. 17-0862, 2020 Tex....more
Disputes often arise over whether parties have agreed to, or by their conduct they have, committed themselves to a transaction. On January 31, 2020, the Texas Supreme Court delivered its decision in Energy Transfer Partners,...more
Following Supreme Court arguments last month, the final chapter in the long-running legal battle between Energy Transfer Partners LP (“ETP”) and Enterprise Products Partners (“Enterprise”) is finally coming to an end. ETP is...more
In Yowell v. Granite Operating Co . 557 S.W.3d 794 (Tex. App.—Amarillo 2018, pet. granted), the Texas Court of Appeals for the Seventh District in Amarillo affirmed the trial court’s determination that an “anti-washout”...more
On June 28, 2019, the Texas Supreme Court agreed to review a ruling from the Fifth Court of Appeals in Dallas in the case of Energy Transfer Partners LP et al. v. Enterprise Products Partners LP et al, No. 529 S.W.3d 531...more
To the relief of oil and gas producers, the Texas Supreme Court ruled on March 1, 2019, in Burlington Resources Oil & Gas Company, L.P. v. Texas Crude Energy, LLC (No. 17-0266), that post-production costs were rightfully...more
The 2012 Macondo Well blowout and Deepwater Horizon rig explosion gave rise to a slew of lawsuits. Our subject today is one of them. ...more
We’re not saying you should do it, but there is a recipe for ridding oil and gas leases of pesky burdens: Enter into a new lease covering the same interest as the earlier lease and omit any reference to an intent that the...more
In JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. v. Orca Assets G.P., a trustee leased minerals to a leasee. No. 15-0712, 2018 Tex. LEXIS 250 (Tex. March 23, 2018)....more
The Texas Supreme Court recently heard oral argument in three intriguing oil and gas cases. Here’s what you need to know about two of them (We’ll address the third case soon)....more
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
“You sued them. They stay, period.” This is the conclusion a Texas trial court came to when asked to exclude the designated representative of a party from a hearing where an employee of the other party, a direct competitor,...more
One of the biggest challenges confronting a defendant that has lost a large judgment is the need to file a supersedeas bond in order to prevent execution on the judgment during the pendency of the appeal. There are good...more