Law, Strategy, and Risk in Commercial Disputes
Do you think of Chicago as an oil and gas town? Dallas, yes; Houston, for sure; New Orleans, uh-huh; maybe Bismarck, North Dakota (for the shale gas); and perhaps even New York (because of trading oil futures on the NYMEX).
Chicago? Meh.
But wait up. Today Judge Richard Posner wrote about oil and gas leases.
Big Oil v. Royalty Owners
Who said Big Oil can't beat Texas royalty owners?
Not Blawgletter. And definitely not the Supreme Court of the Lone Star State.
Royalty owners typically become that by granting your ExxonMobils, your Conocos, your BPs, and the like the right to drill for oil and gas. The lease contract calls…
Mark Twain said the difference between the right word and almost the right word means the difference between "lightning" and "lightning bug".
Tell that to the Andersons of Mountrial County, North Dakota. The family lost a case because "drilling" doesn't mean the same thing as "drilling operations".
On May 3, 2004 and May 10, 2004, they…
People outside of Texas sometimes ask if you own an oil well — or raise cattle or wear boots and a Stetson or really want to secede – right after they learn you live in any of the 254 counties that comprise the Lone Star State. You'd expect that sort of thing from outlanders. We've done such…