Recent Texas royalty cases seem to feature litigants on the fixed royalty side trying, more often than not in vain, to escape the clutches of Van Dyke v. Navigator and Hysaw v. Dawkins. See those decisions for the history of how the Supreme Court got to where it is. (Regardless of which side you’re
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Department of Energy Efficiency Standards Stymied
Coauthor Gunner West *
“Every unnecessary law helps fashion the noose we will ultimately be hung by.”― A.E. Samaan
If you deny the administrative state’s need to dominate the most mundane aspects of your everyday life, consider Louisiana, et al v. U.S. Department of Energy. It’s more gradual than the noose but just as inevitable. They’ve…
More Guidance on Worker Classification for the Energy Industry
This post is a summary of a more detailed Client Alert prepared by Gray Reed’s labor and employment practice group.
Recall our recent post on the Department of Labor’s new “Economic Realities Test” for classifying specialized contractors and consultants as either employees or independent contractors. The new rules make the compliance minefield much riskier. The…
Harsh Result in a Drilling Contract Dispute
Frontier Drilling, LLC v. XTO Energy, Inc. has the indicia of an inequitable result, but as I remind my wife every time she objects to what she deems to be an outrageous jury verdict, we don’t know all the facts and the court’s gotta follow the law, so let’s not judge.
The facts
Drilling…
Mineral Lessee’s H2S Damage Claim Rejected
Landowner and mineral owner (that includes you, lessee): Under ETC Texas Pipeline, Ltd. v. Ageron Energy, LLC, your right to sue for damages for tort or trespass could pass into history before you even know you have a claim. Here’s why:
Under the legal-injury rule (more on that later), a property claim based on trespass…
Have You Recorded Your Saltwater Disposal Agreement?
According to Darkhorse Water LP v. Birch Operations Inc. et al., the form of an instrument affecting real property in Texas does not affect the interest conveyed by the instrument. It’s what the document says about the transaction, not what the document calls itself. And you are reminded (because you know should this) that, other…
A Breach of Fiduciary Duty in the Oil Patch
Antero Resources Corp. v. C & R Downhole Drilling, Inc. et al, proves again the extreme risk when one bites the hand that feeds him. Shoutout to Greek poet Sappho, 600 BCE.He She (oops) probably had a Dalmation. Antero sued former employee Kawsak and his accomplices Robertson and his companies for breach of fiduciary duty,…
What’s New From the Climate-Alarm Industry?
A lot, it turns out. The Biden Administration, bending the knee to the progressive wing of the Democratic Party, has paused approval of new LNG export facilities. (In terms of influence on the President, this “wing” is looking more like the breasts, the thighs and drumsticks, the other wing, and the piece that went…
Employee or Independent Contractor? Know the New Rules
The Department of Labor recently made key changes to its rules in a way that will affect the oil and gas sector. The new rule rescinds a Trump Administration rule that had simplified the process of classifying workers as independent contractors. In its place, the DOL returned to the previous, complex and flexible “Economic Realities Test”…
Is a Merger a “Transfer of Leases”?
In Texas, no. Read on to learn why. In Nortex Minerals LP v. Blackbeard Operating LLC et al, the question was the meaning of this limited assignment provision in the “Alliance Leases”, oil and gas leases covering 27,000 acres of the Alliance Airport in Tarrant County:
Except as provided herein, Lessee may not assign or…