United States Fifth Circuit

In an action by Shell seeking a declaration regarding the proper calculation method for royalties on carbon dioxide in the McElmo Dome area, summary judgment for plaintiff is affirmed where: 1) Fed. R. Civ. P. 41(a) dismissal only applies to the dismissal of an entire action, not particular claims; 2) because the parties only disputed Shell's obligations under a contract related to real property, the local action rule did not control; and 3) plaintiff did not carry his burden to prove that the allegations in his False Claims Act claims were not based upon prior, public disclosures -- or, if they were, that he was an original source of the information.

Appellate Information

• Decided 06/16/2010
• Published 06/16/2010

Judges

• CARL E. STEWART, Circuit Judge:, Before JONES, Chief Judge, and GARZA and STEWART, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Fifth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Robert Bryan Perry, Plano, TX, Jennifer Heather Davidow, Vinson & Elkins, L.L.P., Houston, TX, for Plaintiff-Appellants., Phillip Bruce Dye, Jr., Vinson & Elkins, L.L.P., Andrew McCollam, III, McCollam Law Firm, Houston, TX, for Shell Western Epinc., Kinder Morgan GP, Inc., Kinder Morgan CO2 Co., LP, Shell Oil Co., Bradley., Peter M. Kelly, Moore & Kelly, PC, Houston, TX, for Ptasynski.