Supreme Court of Texas
Exxon Corp v. Emerald Oil & Gas Co., LC, 05-1076
In a dispute between royalty owners and oil and gas lessees, claiming that the previous lessee failed to fully develop oil and gas tracts and sabotaged the wells before abandoning the lease, judgment of the court of appeals is reversed in part, affirmed in part, and remanded where: 1) the royalty owners' statutory and common law waste claims, and the lessee's (Emerald) negligent misrepresentation and tortious interference claims are time-barred; 2) the evidence conclusively establishes that the previous lessee (Exxon) satisfied its duty to develop the field; 3) court of appeals' judgment reversing the trial court's directed verdict in favor of Exxon on Emerald's fraud claim is affirmed; 4) the case is remanded for the court of appeals to consider the royalty owners' claims for fraud, negligence, and breach of misrepresentation, negligence per se, tortious interference with economic opportunity, and breach of regulatory duty to plug wells properly; and 5) Emerald's fraud claim is remanded to the trial court for trial.
Appellate Information
- Argued 02/13/2007
- Decided 12/17/2010
- Published 12/17/2010
Judges
Court
- Supreme Court of Texas