Exxon Corp., et al. v. Emerald Oil & Gas Co., et al.

In this oil and gas dispute, royalty owners and an oil and gas lessee allege that the previous lessee failed to fully develop oil and gas tracts near Refugio and sabotaged the wells before abandoning the lease. The royalty owners' statutory and common law waste claims, and Emerald Oil & Gas Company LC's negligent misrepresentation and tortious interference claims are time-barred. Furthermore, as to the breach of lease claim, the evidence conclusively establishes that Humble Oil and Refining Co., a predecessor of Exxon Corp. and Exxon Texas Inc. (collectively Exxon), satisfied its duty to develop the field. The court of appeals' judgment reversing the trial court's directed verdict in favor of Exxon on Emerald's fraud claim is affirmed on the ground that there was no evidence of the intent-to-induce element of the claim. The case is remanded to the court of appeals 1. to consider the royalty owners' claims for fraud, negligence, negligent misrepresentation, negligence per se, tortious interference with economic opportunity and breach of regulatory duty to plug wells properly; and 2. to remand Emerald's fraud claim to the trial court for further proceedings. On Dec. 17, 2010, the Texas Supreme Court issued its opinion on rehearing in the companion case of Exxon Corp. v. Emerald Oil & Gas Co . Texas Supreme Court, No. 05-1076, 04-01-2011

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Argued February 13, 2007

Rehearing Granted November 20, 2009 JUSTICE WAINWRIGHT delivered the opinion of the Court. J USTICE GUZMAN and J USTICE LEHRMANN did not participate in the decision. After issuing our opinion, we granted the parties’ motions for rehearing on November 20, 2009 and obtained further briefing from the parties. On December 17, 2010, we issued an opinion on rehearing and modified our judgment. Thereafter, the parties filed second motions for rehearing. Today, we deny the parties’ motions, but withdraw our opinion of December 17, 2010 and substitute the following opinion. Our judgment remains unchanged from the one issued December 17, 2010.

Exxon Corp., et al. v. Emerald Oil & Gas Co., et al.

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