Lightning Oil v. Anadarko Texas Supreme Court Case Update

Anadarko filed its Response to Lightning Oil’s Petition for review on June 19, 2015 arguing the Texas Supreme Court should refrain from changing the appellate ruling earlier this year. The San Antonio Fourth Court of Appeals held that Lightning failed to establish an injury to the mineral estate sufficient to grant a temporary injunction that would prevent Anadarko from drilling a horizontal well through neighboring property.

Anadarko now argues that, despite Lightning’s petition for review arguments, the issue of whether a subsurface trespass will occur is not before the Texas Supreme Court because the Court of Appeals did not rule on that issue. Anadarko states at least two reasons for the Texas Supreme Court to deny Lightning’s petition for review: (1) the issue of a temporary injunction is moot as a result of the trial court’s subsequent summary judgment against Lightning; and (2) the substantive issues of the summary judgment are currently on appeal with the Fourth Court of Appeals and therefore are not ripe for review.

For a review of our previous article regarding the appellate decision please visit:

http://www.hfgtx.com/anadarko-can-proceed-horizontal-drilling-plan