An Oil and Gas Lessee Owes the Duty to Refrain From Intentionally Injuring Surface Lessee’s Livestock Within the Legitimate Operation Area of the Oil and Gas Lease
Date
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
Examines the Texas Court of Civil Appeals for the Eighth District case Amerada-Hess Corp v. Iparrea. In Amerada-Hess, the court held that an oil and gas lessee owes only the duty to refrain from willfully, intentionally or wantonly injuring livestock within the legitimate operating areas of the oil and gas lease. Therefore, an oil and gas lessee does not owe a duty to the livestock owner, and is thus is not liable for injury to livestock resulting from a failure to exercise ordinary care within the legitimate operating area. Also, the author highlights conflicting law elsewhere in Texas and concludes that the conflict in the law of livestock injury cases is in need of resolution by the Texas Supreme Court. A clarification, the author concludes, should be based upon the respective property rights of the parties rather than another attempt to interpret ambiguous law.