DMN: Jury Awards $3 Million in Fracking Contamination Case
A Dallas jury has awarded a Wise County couple $3 million in their case against Plano-based Aruba Petroleum.
ETP Demands $915 Million from Enterprise
Energy Transfer Partners is asking a judge to award it $914.6 million for damages it suffered over an alleged joint venture with Houston-based Enterprise Products Partners that failed in 2011.
Gibson Dunn Leads Luminant in $500 Million Federal Court Victory
A federal judge rejected Sierra Club claims that Luminant violated emission standards under the federal Clean Air Act at its Big Brown Power Plant.
UPDATE: Jury Says ETP and Enterprise Were in a Partnership, Awards $319 Million
A Dallas jury, in a potential landmark verdict that has attracted a lot of attention from energy companies and general counsel, ruled last Tuesday that two businesses can be involved in a legally binding partnership even when one of the parties never intended for the joint venture to be official. The jury ordered Enterprise to pay ETP $319 million in damages for violating the corporate version of a common law marriage. The victory was the largest for prominent trial lawyer Mike Lynn and one of the largest ever awarded by a North Texas jury. However, it did not find that Enterprise and Enbridge conspired for Enterprise to breach its duty to ETP for their partnership. Jurors awarded ETP $319 million in actual damages to ETP, but an additional amount for restitution could be added. The jury’s conclusion is a landmark decision for Texas business lawyers and their corporate clients for what under State law constitutes a business partnership. The decision follows four full weeks of intensive testimony from the three oil and gas giants. ETP claimed that Enterprise violated their “Double E” partnership agreement by cutting ties with ETP to pursue a more financially viable pipeline project with Enbridge and that the two conspired to cut ETP out of their new deal. More details as the story develops.
Three Texas Energy Giants Take Multibillion-dollar Dispute to a Jury
When does a business relationship become a partnership? That question is at the heart of a multibillion-dollar dispute involving Energy Transfer Partners, Enterprise and Enbridge Inc. that is scheduled to start trial this week in Dallas.
Texas Railroad Commission Sued for Whistleblower Discrimination
The state agency is being accused of retaliating against a former employee after he reported unlawful actions of his supervisor.
Cities, Power Companies and Farmers Await Texas Water Access Decision
Texas’ environmental watchdog is expected to reveal Friday whether it will continue allowing municipalities and power generators to jump to the front of the line over the right to use increasingly scarce water in the Brazos River region. A state judge ordered the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to stop that practice, ruling that it should follow a more than 100-year-old system for allocating water, called the priority doctrine. Read more for the details.
As BP Oil Spill Trial Begins, Don Godwin Takes Center Stage
The potentially historic Deepwater Horizon trial is scheduled to start Monday and Donald Goldwin is right in the middle of it. “This case is unprecedented, both in terms of the size of the litigation and the amount of money at stake," says Godwin, who is lead lawyer for Halliburton. "Damages could exceed $70 billion. I’ve never seen anything like it. Nobody has.” But don't expect Godwin to settle: "I'm here to win."
Eastland Appeals Court Sides with Occidental in $10.5 Million Royalty Dispute
Lawyers say ruling sets precedent for valuing gas containing high content of injected carbon dioxide, which is then separated out to make marketable hydrocarbon products.
$29 Million Wind Energy Contract Dispute Reaches Texas Supreme Court
Industry says legal battle could harm state’s renewable energy credit market; TXU says those claims are overblown. Nina Cortell of Haynes and Boone argues for FPL Energy, while James Ho of Gibson Dunn represents Luminant Energy.
Longview Energy Wins $500 Million Land Transfer in Eagle Ford Case
For a small oil and gas company like Dallas-based Longview Energy, the chance to obtain a lease in the red-hot Eagle Ford Shale was an opportunity that doesn’t come along every day. So it was a huge disappointment in 2010 when a promising lease of 46,000 acres was rejected by two of the company’s directors, representatives of The Huff Energy Fund, a New Jersey private equity company that owns 39 percent of Longview. What Longview did not know is that three days earlier, the very same land had been secured by a portfolio group that was 99 percent owned by the equity fund. Now, a South Texas judge has awarded Longview Energy the rights to the land valued at more than $500 million. It is one of the largest judgments ever involving the Eagle Ford play.
Supreme Court Says Pipeline Companies Must Prove Status to Tap Eminent Domain
Refusal to rehear case likely means more court disputes with landowners