United States Fifth Circuit

Neither res judicata nor collateral estoppel preclude the US from challenging plaintiffs' assertion of ownership over 180,000 acres of mineral servitudes in the Kisatchie National Forest; summary judgment for plaintiffs is reversed.

Appellate Information

• Decided 03/31/2004
• Published 03/31/2004

Judges

• DENNIS, Circuit Judge:, Before EMILIO M. GARZA and DENNIS, Circuit Judges, and VANCE , District Judge.

Court

• United States Fifth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• J. Ralph White (argued), Montgomery, Barnett, Brown, Read, Hammond & Mintz, New Orleans, LA, for Petro-Hunt, L.L.C., Matthew Joseph Randazzo, III, John Mason McCollam, Jonas Peyton Baker, Gordon, Arata, McCollam, Duplantis & Eagan, New Orleans, LA, for Hunt Petroleum Corp. and Kingfisher Resources, Inc., John Smeltzer (argued), John A. Bryson, U.S. Dept. of Justice, Environment & Natural Resources Div., Washington, DC, for U.S., David L. Smelley, Hargrove, Pesnell & Wyatt, Shreveport, LA, for Palmer Petroleum Inc., James Fleet Howell, Shreveport, LA, for Wheless T.D.L. Exploration Co. LLC.