In the case, Shirley Adams et al. v. Murphy Exploration & Production Co.-USA, the lessors and royalty owners sued lessee Murphy for breach of contract, claiming that Murphy had failed to drill an offset well to protect two tracts of land against drainage.

Murphy was assigned oil and gas leases executed by lessors in the Eagle Ford Shale. The parties did not dispute that the leases required the lessee, if a well was completed, to drill an offset well to prevent drainage. A lower court granted Murphy’s motion for summary judgment based on evidence that a well had been drilled and Murphy’s expert’s testimony that it was an offset well.

The Fourth Court of Appeals held that in order for Murphy’s summary judgment burden to be met, Murphy had to conclusively prove that the well was an offset well as a matter of law, thus disproving the element of breach. However, the appeals court found that Murphy failed to meet that burden, as it failed to prove that the well met the commonly understood meaning of the term “offset well,” which is a well used for protection from drainage. The appeals court reversed the grant of summary judgment and remanded the case to the trial court for further proceedings.

Gregory D. Jordan is an Oil and Gas lawyer in Austin. To learn more, visit http://www.theaustintriallawyer.com or call 512-419-0684.

According to the Texas Department of Public Safety (TDPS), the state has an unenviable record of coming in 5th place for truck fatality crashes and 4th for the sheer number of truck inspections. The numbers cited by the TDPS reveal there were roughly 10.3 inspections for every lane-mile on Interstate highways in 2013, a jump of nearly 20 percent over inspections in 2011 of 8.8 per lane-mile.

In the Eagle Ford Shale area, and in numerous other surrounding locations, there are twisted interconnected interstate highways that boast some of the highest speed limits in the nation. An ever increasing number of big rigs servicing the oilfields traverse these highways. It’s not just U.S.-based trucking traffic though. There are multiple Mexican carriers hunkered down along the border that travel in the same commercial trucking zones.

In an attempt to keep the highways a safer place to drive for everyone, the TDPS has been aggressively issuing violations and focusing in on truck maintenance. The greater focus on maintenance is, in part, due to the fact that The Lone Star State is in the lead in the U.S. for maintenance violations when all violations are tallied.

Are the highways a safer place because of more aggressive enforcement by the TDPS? Some argue that they are, but the accident statistics say otherwise. Fatal truck accidents happen for other reasons than just poor maintenance, such as distracted driving. As the human factor is likely to remain in the equation for the foreseeable future, big rig accidents are likely to continue to happen, and victims are going to need the expert services of a trucking injury attorney to recover compensation.

Lee, Gober and Reyna – If you need a personal injury lawyer or help with an auto accident, motorcycle accident, wrongful death, or burn injury case, contact Lee, Gober and Reyna by visiting http://www.lgrlawfirm.com or calling 512.800.8000

In the Eagle Ford Shale in Texas, Anadarko owned leases for mineral interests beneath the Chaparral Wildlife Management Area. The lease required Anadarko to use offsite drilling locations when prudent and feasible. Lightning owns adjacent mineral leases, and Briscoe Ranch, Inc. owns the surface above Lightning’s leases. Anadarko entered into an agreement with Briscoe to establish drill sites on Briscoe’s land, drill through – but not produce from – Lightning’s leases, and drill from Anadarko’s own lease.

Lightning sought an injunction, claiming that its own mineral interests could be harmed by Anadarko’s proposed drilling activity. Lightning argued that drilling fluid could seep into Lightning’s mineral interests if Anadarko failed to case its wells properly. In that case, Lightning would be forced to drill extra offset wells in order to prevent drainage occurring from Anadarko’s wells.

The trial court denied the injunction, and the appellate court affirmed, stating that Lightning had failed to show an imminent and irreparable harm that would result from the drilling activity.

Gregory D. Jordan is an Oil and Gas lawyer in Austin. To learn more, visit http://www.theaustintriallawyer.com or call 512-419-0684.

According to a recent drilling article in the Houston Chronicle, workers have no one to rely on for their safety or assistance in the event of an accident, not even the federal government. It’s a depressing commentary on the human condition when 60 oil rig workers die, one at a time, and it does not register as a warning flag. This observation came from no less that the former assistant regional administrator for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).

It’s not news that onshore oil fields are virtually the most dangerous places to work. This fact was revealed in 2007, at the beginning of the fracking boom, by the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSHIB), who revealed that 40 percent of the 663 riggers killed while working on rigs, died in Texas. 2012 was a bad year, featuring a ten-year high, with 65 deaths, 79 workers who had a limb amputated, 92 who sustained burns, 675 with broken bones and 82 crush deaths. These are grim statistics. Unfortunately, with the increased activity, particularly in the Eagle Ford Shale patch, the problem will only get worse.

Furthermore, the CSHIB study showed the federal government has done nothing for 22-years with regard to putting safety procedures and standards in place for onshore gas and oil drilling. These findings did not let the OSHA off the hook for their lackluster rules and regulations pertaining to safety. They are only mandated to launch an investigation relating to accidents that kill a worker or that resulted in three or more employees being sent to hospital. There were 18,000 work-related injuries in the past 6-years, and only 150 were investigated.

Perhaps it goes without saying, but bears mentioning as a reminder of the lack of government involvement relating to safety in the oil industry in Texas, that when the OSHA conducted an investigation, safety infractions and violations were cited in 78 percent of them. It’s not too difficult to suspect that the accidents that were not investigated were also caused by safety violations.

Instead of getting better, it appears safety procedures and standards rank dead last with the government. Hundreds of Texas families would disagree with this approach. Hundreds more workplace accident lawyers also find fault with this hands off attitude.

Perlmutter & Schuelke, LLP is one of the premier trial firms in Austin Texas. Contact a wrongful death attorney by calling 512-476-4944 or learn more at http://www.civtrial.com/.

These dangers come from all angles.  First, there is danger from the sheer volume of trucks.  Whenever I drive through South East Texas, I’m just shocked at the number of trucks on the road.

Second, where there are profits for pressure, trucking companies take shortcuts.  In the recent article, Karnes County officers acknowledge that the truckers are violating safety rules, including driving more hours than the law allows.  The Karnes County Sheriff cited two recent wrecks between school buses and trucks where the truck drivers acknowledged that they were just too tired.

Finally, the increased truck traffic is actually creating dangers by causing the roads to deteriorate.  The Texas Trucking Association admits that many of these roads weren’t designed for the amount of truck traffic being seen on those roads today.  The roads can’t handle the traffic, and it’s leading to all kinds of dangerous situations.

Unfortunately, I don’t have any good solutions for this problem, and it’s only a problem that will get bigger and bigger as the amount of miles continue to increase.

If you or a loved one has been injured in a trucking or automobile wreck, please let us help.  Call (512)476-4944 to set up an appointment.