oBrian presented an oral argument before the
Texas Supreme Court, where they announced their
decision in Richard D. Crawford v. XTO Energy Inc.
(Cause #15-142) on Friday, February 3, 2017. This
case addressed whether the owner of a small
mineral tract who has to sue the operator for
unpaid royalties can be forced to also sue all the
adjacent royalty owners or others who receive
money the operator claims was for royalties on the
small mineral tract. The Court ruled that the
trial court abused its discretion in holding that
the adjacent landowners are necessary parties
under Rule 39 merely because of XTO’s payments
to them, and in dismissing Crawford’s suit for
his failure to join those adjacent landowners. The
Court reversed the court of appeals’ judgment
and remanded the case to the trial court for
further proceedings consistent with its opinion.
