Legacy Litigation

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The United States Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals recently affirmed the dismissal of a lawsuit against 18 oil and gas companies. The lawsuit arose from the sudden death of oysters in Plaquemines Parish, which plaintiffs, a group of about 30 oyster fishermen, alleged were the result of a release of produced water and brine—frequent byproducts of oil and gas operations. …
Continue Reading Failure to Allege Plausible Arguments Against Oil and Gas Companies Proves Costly as the Fifth Circuit Dismissed Oyster Mortality Case

The availability of excess remediation damages, which are damages for additional remediation beyond state regulatory standards that can be pocketed by landowners instead of deposited with the court, has been a hotly contested issue in Louisiana legacy cases involving oilfield remediation claims governed by Act 312 (La. R.S. 30:29).
Continue Reading Liskow Secures Success at the Louisiana First Circuit Court of Appeal in Legacy Case Involving Excess Remediation Claims Under Act 312

The Louisiana Third Circuit recently affirmed a trial court discovery ruling that allowed the defendant to design its own e-discovery protocol without input from plaintiffs. In doing so, the Third Circuit bolstered the longstanding principle that trial courts have considerable discretion over discovery issues. …
Continue Reading E-Discovery Update: Louisiana Third Circuit Affirms Defendant’s Authority to Govern Its Own E-Discovery Protocols

On June 16, the Texas Supreme Court considered the award of noneconomic damages in the amount of just over $15 million in a wrongful death case arising from a trucking accident. In a plurality opinion, the Court reversed and remanded for a new trial, holding that the jury’s discretion to make an award is limited and that noneconomic damages must be supported by evidence of the nature, duration, and severity of the injury to support both the existence and the amount of compensable loss. Additionally, the Court held that unsubstantiated arguments to the jury, such as comparisons of mental anguish to the cost of a fighter jet, a work of art, or miles driven by a defendant’s vehicles, are improper.
Continue Reading “Juries cannot simply pick a number and put it in the blank.” – Texas Supreme Court Remands Case Involving $15 Million Jury Award for Noneconomic Damages Where Award was Unsupported and Arguments to the Jury Unsubstantiated

The Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority (CPRA) recently released its 2023 draft Coastal Master Plan, which is required by law to be updated every six years. The most recent draft is the fourth update since it was first adopted by the Louisiana Legislature in 2007 following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005.[1]…

In a recent decision, the United States Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals remanded to state court a case brought by landowners against the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (“LDEQ”) and several past and present owners and operators of an industrial facility (“Facility Defendants”), finding that LDEQ was not improperly joined, and therefore the case could…

The subsequent purchaser doctrine has been litigated extensively in Louisiana legacy cases involving claims for oilfield remediation.  The doctrine provides that a current landowner has no standing to bring a lawsuit for property damage that occurred prior to its acquisition absent a valid assignment from the prior landowner of the personal right to sue.  However, until now, no appellate court had addressed whether the doctrine barred a claim brought by a closely held or family-owned company who acquired the property in an intra-family transfer.  In Louisiana Wetlands, LLC v. Energen Resources Corporation, 2021-0290 (La. App. 1 Cir. 10/4/21), 2021 WL 4548529, —So. 3d—, the Louisiana First Circuit answered this question in the affirmative, holding that the subsequent purchaser doctrine applies to property transfers from family members to a company which they also own.
Continue Reading Louisiana First Circuit Applies Subsequent Purchaser Doctrine to Property Transfer Involving Closely Held LLC

On June 30, 2021, the Louisiana Supreme Court issued an opinion redefining the nature of available damages and the “actual, statutorily permitted role of the jury in Act 312 remediation lawsuits.” The “LL&E II” decision finds that Act 312 charges the court, not the jury, to determine the funding needed to remediate property to government standards. If (and only if) an express contractual provision requires greater remediation than government standards, a jury may consider and award such “excess remediation” damages. State of Louisiana v. Louisiana Land and Exploration Co., 2020-00685 (La. 6/30/2021); — So. 3d — (“LL&E II”).[1]
Continue Reading Overturning 8 Years of “Palpable Error,” The Louisiana Supreme Court Limits Damages Available to Landowners in Oilfield Legacy Litigation

In Lexington Land Development, L.L.C. v. Chevron Pipelines Company, et al., 2020-0622 (La. App. 1 Cir. 5/25/21), 2021 WL 2102932, —So. 3d—, the Louisiana First Circuit recently reaffirmed well-settled principles regarding prescription and the subsequent purchaser doctrine in Louisiana legacy cases.
Continue Reading Louisiana First Circuit Reaffirms Prescription and Subsequent Purchaser Principles

A recent decision from the Louisiana First Circuit Court of Appeal may have lasting effects on good faith purchasers of oil. In Hill v. TMR Exploration, Inc, 2021 WL 267916, the First Circuit affirmed a district court ruling on summary judgment applying the good faith purchaser defense provision set forth in La. Civ. Code…