I have written previously about class certification in the oil patch. Frequently the emphasis is around whether the putative class can satisfy Rule 23’s commonality and predominance requirements. The recent trend has been toward troubling developments for operators, including courts that focus on ostensibly “common” facts that are irrelevant to the claims asserted or, worse […]
Sixth Circuit Fans the Flames of Class Certification Against Operators
SCOTX Issues Another Key Decision for Interpreting Oil-and-Gas Contracts
The Texas Supreme Court, beginning in 2017, began issuing a number of decisions altering the analysis for the interpretation of oil-and-gas agreements, principally mineral leases and conveyances. I wrote about many of these opinions as they were released: “Texas High Court Ruling Sows Confusion On Mineral Deeds” (Wenske v. Ealy) (Law360, subscription required)—chipping away at […]
Podcast: Royalty Underpayment Class Actions; Duties of the Mineral Executive; and Anti-Pooling Clauses
In the latest episode of our energy law podcast, we discuss troubling developments at the intersection of class actions and consumer protection laws in royalty underpayment cases; the Texas Supreme Court’s latest pronouncements on the duties of executive mineral rights owners to non-executives; and a new appellate court decision that addresses when the acceptance of […]
The Troubling Intersection of Royalty Disputes and Consumer Protection Laws
In the normal course, when landowners believe they have been underpaid royalties under an oil-and-gas lease, they sue individually. Most of the time the core claim is for breach of contract (notwithstanding that royalty-underpayment petitions are often littered with tertiary, throw-away causes of action that no one takes very seriously). As I have written in […]
Texas Supreme Court to Mineral Purchasers: Buyer Beware!
In the latest episode of our energy law podcast, learn about offset wells and liquidated damages as unenforceable penalties; the arrival of anti-SLAPP in the oil patch; and the Texas Supreme Court’s warning to mineral purchasers: buyer beware.
Pitfalls and Best Practices Surrounding Digital Signatures in the Oil Patch and Beyond
In the latest episode of our energy law podcast, the managing partner of Kane Russell Coleman Logan PC‘s Houston office, Marcy Rothman, discusses pitfalls and best practices surrounding digital signatures in the oil patch and beyond.