32 results for 'cat:"Energy" AND cat:"Property"'.
J. Thacker finds the lower court improperly granted judgment to the pipeline. The pipeline project acquired easements on properties along the pipeline’s route through condemnation actions pursuant to the Natural Gas Act. The property in question was encumbered by temporary and permanent easements on 8.37 acres. After the lower court granted the project immediate possession of the easements, the case proceeded to a jury trial to determine the amount of just compensation owed. After hearing from various appraisers, the jury rendered a $523,327 verdict. The lower court agreed with the project that the verdict resulted from the jury improperly mixing expert testimony. The jury’s $523,327 verdict can be supported by credited testimony without mixing different land use valuations, as the lower court assumed. Reversed.
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: Thacker, Filed On: May 14, 2024, Case #: 23-1532, Categories: energy, Jury, property
J. Crothers finds that the district court properly quieted title to disputed oil and gas interests in favor of defendant company and awarded fees. However, the court improperly required plaintiff company to pay non-legal costs. Affirmed in part.
Court: North Dakota Supreme Court, Judge: Crothers , Filed On: May 2, 2024, Case #: 2024ND88, Categories: energy, property
J. Rice finds that the district court properly upheld a state board decision to grant forced pooling and risk penalties to an oil and gas well operator. The operator made an unsuccessful, good faith attempt to have the owner of the mineral interests voluntarily agree to pooling, as required by law before seeking forced pooling. And the operator made valid written demands giving the owner the opportunity to particpate in the costs of drilling before seeking risk penalties. Affirmed.
Court: Montana Supreme Court, Judge: Rice, Filed On: April 30, 2024, Case #: DA 23-0289, Categories: energy, property
J. McNeill finds that the lower court properly held that a gas company had the right to condemn plaintiff's property to construct a natural gas pipeline because the conservation easement did not protect the land from eminent domain since the action concerned public use and plaintiff received proper compensation.
Court: Kentucky Court Of Appeals, Judge: McNeill, Filed On: April 19, 2024, Case #: 2023-CA-0458-MR, Categories: energy, property
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J. Golemon finds the trial court improperly granted a permanent injunction to the successor-in-interest to the grantor of pipeline easements. The grantor successor filed suit against the grantee successor after a dispute developed regarding the use of the grantor's roads and bridges. The grantor failed to prove the grantee engaged in a wrongful act causing the grantor irreparable injury. The trial court improperly permanently enjoined the grantee from exercising its rights under the easements. Awards of fees are based on the erroneous conclusion. Reversed in part.
Court: Texas Courts of Appeals, Judge: Golemon , Filed On: April 11, 2024, Case #: 09-22-00117-CV, Categories: energy, property
J. Kleeh denies the family business's but grants the hydrocarbon exploration company's cross motions for summary judgment in a breach of contract suit claiming the company failed to properly pay oil and gas royalties in Doddridge County. Since the business does not own the interests in the three leaseholds specified in count two of its complaint, the court finds there is no enforceable contract between it and the company.
Court: USDC Northern District of West Virginia, Judge: Kleeh, Filed On: March 28, 2024, Case #: 1:22cv1, NOS: Other Contract - Contract, Categories: energy, property, Contract
J. Perret finds that the trial court improperly granted third-party defendants' exception of no right of action as to an exploration company's third-party demands in a suit seeking remediation for alleged property damages caused by oil and gas activities. The exploration company established it has a right of action for contribution against the third-party defendants. Reversed.
Court: Louisiana Court Of Appeal, Judge: Perret, Filed On: March 27, 2024, Case #: CA-23-526, Categories: energy, property, Indemnification
J. Cooper denies, in part, the Bureau of Land Management's motion for summary judgment on several conservation groups' challenge to the sale of 120,000 acres in Wyoming for drilling. The agency erroneously assessed the sale's impact on groundwater and wildlife, and did not explain how its analysis of greenhouse gas emission affected its decision.
Court: USDC District of Columbia, Judge: Cooper, Filed On: March 22, 2024, Case #: 1:22cv1871, NOS: Environmental Matters - Other Suits, Categories: energy, Environment, property
J. Marbley denies the oil and gas drilling company's motion to dismiss, ruling that because the declaratory judgment claim made by the property owner regarding the geologic nature of formations below the Utica shale layer would solve the majority of the parties' dispute, it will proceed.
Court: USDC Southern District of Ohio, Judge: Marbley, Filed On: March 18, 2024, Case #: 2:22cv3943, NOS: Torts to Land - Real Property, Categories: energy, property, Conversion
J. Africk grants a default judgment to a natural gas pipeline company against seven remaining landowners for its suit for right of use and right of way over their properties for the construction of a compressor station and other facilities in the coastal Louisiana town of Golden Meadows. The seven landowners are deceased or could not be located by the company. The pipeline company has agreed to pay $100 in compensation to each of the seven landowners who would otherwise receive less than $100.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Africk, Filed On: February 21, 2024, Case #: 2:23cv2793, NOS: Insurance - Contract, Categories: Construction, energy, property
J. Southwick finds the district court properly held a mineral lease is not yet in effect such that the developer has standing to pursue constitutional takings claims against the parish. The clear text of the lease shows the developer has not secured necessary governmental approvals. Therefore, the developer has no vested interest in the property at question or its clay deposits. Affirmed.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Southwick , Filed On: February 16, 2024, Case #: 23-30084, Categories: Constitution, energy, property
J. Combs finds the court of appeals improperly vacated the trial court's granting of summary judgment to the oil production company. The trustees say they are entitled to a greater royalty according to a lease agreement executed by their predecessors-in-interest. The trial court properly applied the 15-year statute of limitation to the trustees' quiet title claim, and in determining the quiet title claim accrued more than 15 years ago. No error is found in the court's denying the trustees' motion to compel production of title opinions in the company's possession. Whether the trustees hold marketable title is distinct from the issue of which lease controls. Vacated.
Court: Oklahoma Supreme Court, Judge: Combs , Filed On: February 6, 2024, Case #: 119366, Categories: energy, property, Trusts
J. Niemeyer finds the lower court improperly abstained from ruling on the federal constitutional claims. Two landowners sought to challenge a new West Virginia law that authorized the combining of separately owned mineral tracts to form a single operating unit overlapping all or part of a common source of oil or gas, claiming the statute constitutes a taking of their property and deprives them of property without due process of law, in violation of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments. The lower court abstained, claiming the case would be better litigated in state courts. According to the lower court, the West Virginia constitutional provision is not ‘broad and sweeping’ but is directly pertinent to the issues presented in this case. The lower court did not identify the West Virginia constitutional provision that it had in mind, nor did it identify any state law issue on which the commission’s motion to dismiss the federal constitutional claims would turn. Reversed.
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: Niemeyer, Filed On: January 31, 2024, Case #: 22-2271, Categories: energy, property, Real Estate
Per curiam, the Supreme Court of Ohio finds the appeals court exceeded the scope of its jurisdiction on remand when it considered the threshold issue of whether the oil and gas drilling company had a cognizable property interest in its lease. This court's order required it only to conduct a proper takings clause analysis. Therefore, the case will again be remanded to allow the appeals court to consider whether the company suffered a total taking and is entitled to appropriation compensation. Reversed.
Court: Ohio Supreme Court, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: January 24, 2024, Case #: 2024-Ohio-200, Categories: energy, property, Jurisdiction
J. Alvarez reverses the trial court's dismissal of a family's oil and gas lease dispute against another family that owns nearby property. The trial court improperly granted the neighboring family's plea to the jurisdiction, as their arguments were based on standing, mootness, judicial admissions and other claims that are not proper grounds on which to grant the plea. Reversed.
Court: Texas Courts of Appeals, Judge: Alvarez, Filed On: January 3, 2024, Case #: 04-22-00563-CV , Categories: energy, property, Jurisdiction
J. Soto finds a lower court erred in its reading of a deed in a mineral rights dispute. The “only interpretation of the deed harmonizing all its provisions” is one in which both parties bear the burden of paying out a “non-participating royalty interest” owned by the state, and therefore the lower court erred in granting summary judgment to appellee company relieving it of this burden. Reversed.
Court: Texas Courts of Appeals, Judge: Soto, Filed On: December 27, 2023, Case #: 08-23-00140-CV, Categories: energy, property, Real Estate
Per curiam, the circuit finds the lower court properly dismissed the homeowners' tort claims against the federal government for property damage sustained after the failure of the Edenville Dam. The Federal Power Act shifts all liability onto the operators and licensees of hydroelectric power plants and, therefore, the government was entitled to sovereign immunity. Affirmed.
Court: 6th Circuit, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: October 3, 2023, Case #: 22-1590, Categories: energy, property, Immunity
J. Edmondson finds the court of appeals improperly reversed the trial court's summary judgment in favor of the petroleum lessor. Exhibits presented during summary proceedings were insufficient to show a material fact that a well was commercially profitable. An overriding royalty interest may be extinguished by an extinguishment of the working interest from which it was fashioned by the lessee's surrender in substantial compliance with the lease. The appeals court opinion is vacated. The trial court's judgment is reversed, and the matter remanded for further proceedings.
Court: Oklahoma Supreme Court, Judge: Edmondson, Filed On: September 19, 2023, Case #: 119810, Categories: energy, property, Contract
On a certified question from the lower court, J. Cates rules that a tenant in common does not have a legal right to take oil and gas from a common property without the permission of the cotenants. Similarly, the owner of a one-half interest in a mineral estate does not have an unfettered right to remove and market the minerals from the estate without permission from the cotenants.
Court: Illinois Appellate Court, Judge: Cates, Filed On: September 13, 2023, Case #: 220206, Categories: energy, property
J. Tufte finds that the district court properly issued an order in a quiet title action for oil and gas leasehold interests. The district court was correct in concluding that a company’s leases terminated under their terms when production ceased and they failed to timely commence reworking
operations. Affirmed.
Court: North Dakota Supreme Court, Judge: Tufte, Filed On: August 2, 2023, Case #: 2023ND142, Categories: energy, property, Contract
J. Marbley denies, in part, the motions for summary judgment filed by the landowners and the oil and gas drilling companies, ruling none of the parties can prevail on the declaratory judgment claim filed by the landowners. There is a question of fact as to whether the definition of "Utica Shale" in the parties' drilling contract includes the Point Pleasant formations extracted by the drilling companies. Additionally, the landowners cannot prevail on their trespassing claim because of the ambiguity in the contract.
Court: USDC Southern District of Ohio, Judge: Marbley, Filed On: June 28, 2023, Case #: 2:19cv2221, NOS: Other Contract - Contract, Categories: energy, property, Contract
J. May finds that the state utilities board properly authorized MidAmerican Energy to build certain electric transmission facilities against a property owner's objections because state code provides utilities statutory authority to run facilities within a public road right-of-way.
Court: Iowa Supreme Court, Judge: May, Filed On: June 16, 2023, Case #: 21-1788, Categories: energy, property, Agency