Insight and Information on Texas Law, Litigation, and Legal Culture
Many people complete their estate planning documents, place them in a safe/drawer, and never think about them again. It’s an understandable pattern, but estate planning requires maintenance just like your house, your car, and the rest of your valuable assets. So when should you review and update your will or trust?
In a perfect world,…
Despite most people believing it’s important to have an estate plan, only about 40% of people actually get one.[1] There are a number of reasons that someone may not have gotten an estate plan but the idea that you do not need one because you do not have kids should not be one of…
The drafters of an Assignment of Overriding Royalty Interest in Burlington Resources Oil & Gas Company, L. P. v. Texas Crude Energy, LLC did not “say what they meant to say” and received an admonition from the Texas Supreme Court. In Burlington, the Court determined a royalty interest owned by Texas Crude was subject…
The Texas Supreme Court has ruled that Chapter 95, a statute that protects property owners from personal injury suits by employees of contractors and subcontractors, applies to claims against property owners for the negligent hiring of the contractor or subcontractor.
In certain circumstances, Chapter 95 of the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code protects property…
Texas law protects property owners from personal injury suits by the employees of independent contractors and subcontractors hired by the property owner to work on an improvement on their property. The Texas Supreme Court is considering whether this protection includes claims for the property owner’s negligent hiring of the contractor or subcontractor.
In certain circumstances,…
On October 1, 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review a Texas Supreme Court’s ruling finding Noble Energy Inc. (“Noble”) liable for cleanup costs paid by ConocoPhillips Co. (“ConocoPhillips”) to settle a separate Louisiana oilfield legacy case. The Texas Supreme Court ruled that Noble inherited the indemnity obligation to ConocoPhillips from its predecessor, which …
By statute, royalties on oil and gas production are due on or before 120 days after the end of the month of first sale of production from the well. This gives operators about four months after a well begins producing to obtain title curative, set up a pay deck for the well, issue division orders…
