A recent Texas oil and gas appeals case taught a hard lesson to an unsuspecting landowner. In Aston Meadows v. Devon Energy, Aston Meadows had purchased approximately 182 acres in Tarrant County. Unknown to them, Devon Energy held an oil, gas, and mineral lease that encumbered hundreds of acres of land in a tract that spanned Tarrant and Wise Counties and included the property Aston Meadows had purchased. Devon’s lease was originally recorded only in Wise County in 1977. Aston had purchased the land in Tarrant County for a residential development in 2001.<\/p>\n
When Aston Meadows bought the land, no oil and gas production was occurring. But in 2007, they sued Devon and its parent company for allegedly drilling horizontally under their property. Aston claimed that Devon’s lease was invalid because it was not recorded in Tarrant County\u2019s records. Aston claimed they were owed damages for trespass, conversion, breach of contract and (more…)<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A recent Texas oil and gas appeals case taught a hard lesson to an unsuspecting landowner. In Aston Meadows v. Devon Energy, Aston Meadows had purchased approximately 182 acres in Tarrant County. Unknown to them, Devon Energy held an oil,…<\/span><\/p>\n