Author: Will Grubb

Will assists clients with complex commercial litigation, with an emphasis on oil & gas. Will’s experience includes drafting dispositive motions for matters in state and federal court, handling interlocutory appeals before Texas courts, arguing hearings, providing in-depth legal research, and assisting in other phases of litigation.
22Jun

Strip and Gores Doctrine Extends Conveyance to Include Adjacent Severed Mineral Interest

Crawford v. XTO Energy, Inc., No. 02-18-00217-CV, 2019 Tex. App. LEXIS 11066 (Tex. App.—Fort Worth Dec. 19, 2019, pet. filed)

The Fort Worth Court of Appeals held that the “strip and gore doctrine” applied to a 1984 conveyance of 76 acres, causing the conveyance to also include a severed mineral interest underlying an adjacent 8.25-acre strip of land.

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18Jun

Can Emails Form a Purchase Contract? Texas Supreme Court Tackles the Issue in Two Recent Cases

Chalker Energy Partners III, LLC v. Le Norman Operating LLC, No. 18-0352, 2020 Tex. LEXIS 161 (Tex. Feb. 28, 2020);

Copano Energy, LLC v. Bujnoch, No. 18-0044, 63 Tex. Sup. Ct. J. 348, 2020 Tex. LEXIS 49, (Jan. 31, 2020)

In response to COVID-19, many companies and their employees have quickly shifted to a “work from home” model. Even though email has been a large part of business for decades, the new “remote” reality has only increased our reliance on electronic communications. In a pair of recent cases, the Texas Supreme Court was tasked with deciding what role email plays in contract formation. As companies continue to conduct an extensive amount of business electronically, it is important to keep in mind what effect courts will give to agreements formed through email conversations.

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25Mar

Acknowledgment of Record Title Held Not to Defeat Adverse Possession Claim

Scribner v. Wineinger, No. 02-19-00208-CV, 2019 Tex. App. LEXIS 9170 (Tex. App.—Fort Worth Oct. 17, 2019, no pet.)

In this leasehold adverse possession case, the Fort Worth Court of Appeals held that an acknowledgement of the record title holder’s title by an adverse possessor will not defeat an adverse possession claim if the limitations clock had already run out before the acknowledgement occurred. The trial court granted summary judgment in favor of the oil and gas company on their affirmative defense of adverse possession and limitations title under the five-year statute.

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20Mar

Heirs Estopped From Claiming Interests Reserved in 1989 Warranty Deed

Wagenschein v. Ehlinger, 2019 Tex. App. LEXIS 5949 (Tex. App—Corpus Chisti July 11, 2019, pet. filed)

In this case, the Corpus Christi Court of Appeals held that, when grantors of a 1989 warranty deed signed division orders and accepted royalty payments consistent with treatment of the reservation as creating a joint tenancy with right of survivorship, that established an affirmative defense of quasi-estoppel, subsequently estopping those grantors’ heirs from claiming the reservation created a tenancy in common.

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4Mar

Texas Courts Continue to Analyze Oil and Gas Cases Under the Texas Citizen’s Participation Act

McDonald Oilfield Operations, LLC v. 3B Insp., LLC, No. 01-18-00118-CV, 2019 Tex. App. LEXIS 6400 (Tex. App.—Houston [1st Dist.] July 25, 2019, no pet.) and Pearl Energy Inv. Mgmt., LLC v. Gravitas Res. Corp., 2019 Tex. App. LEXIS 6833 (Tex. App.—Dallas Aug. 7, 2019, no pet.)

In this business torts case between pipeline monitoring companies, Houston’s First Court of Appeals held that the trial court erred by denying a motion to dismiss pursuant to the Texas Citizens Participation Act (TCPA). At issue were causes of action for defamation, business disparagement, tortious interference with contract, and tortious interference with prospective business relations. Each of these causes of action centered around an alleged conversation where Kelly McDonald contacted a former client of 3B Inspection, and said 3B was “not a real company” and its principal “did not know what he was doing.” 3B also asserted that McDonald Oilfield intentionally cancelled sponsorship of federal “Operator Qualifications,” allegedly with “malicious intent to shut down the project and cause harm to 3B Inspection’s business relationship with its client.”

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26Feb

Class Certification Denied in Royalty Class Action Suit

Regmund v. Talisman Energy USA, Inc., No. 4:16-CV-02960, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 110363 (S.D. Tex. 2019)

The Plaintiffs, a putative class of lessors under oil and gas leases, brought claims against Talisman Energy USA, Inc. (“Talisman”) relating to Talisman’s “volumetric” method of calculating royalties. Some of the gas produced is “wet gas,” which requires stabilization prior to sale, which results in a reduction or “shrinkage” of the volume sold. Talisman commingled the production from numerous leases for processing at the stabilization facility, and then allocated the sales volumes back to individual leases on the basis of wellhead metered volumes (a “volumetric” allocation), and applied an estimate of overall shrinkage.

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We keep clients and subscribers updated on case law alerts and insightful articles. Join more than 2,000+ in-house attorneys and landmen who receive our occasional alerts and summaries. All for free!
Note: When choosing facebook or google, alerts will be sent to the email listed in that account.
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We keep clients and subscribers updated on case law alerts and insightful articles. Join more than 2,000+ in-house attorneys and landmen who receive our occasional alerts and summaries. All for free!