Joint Operating Agreement (JOA) Disputes
Mewbourne Oil Company, Custer County District Court, Oklahoma, and the Oklahoma Court of Civil Appeals
Represented Mewbourne in disputes under multiple joint operating agreements (JOAs). Plaintiff alleged that Mewbourne had breached the JOAs based on alleged failures to provide documents in response to JOA audits. Filed and argued a motion for summary judgment related to COPAS accounting guidelines. Following oral argument, the district court granted Mewbourne’s summary judgment. Also represented Mewbourne in two follow-on appeals related to the district court proceedings and the Oklahoma Court of Civil Appeals affirmed both decisions. The Oklahoma Supreme Court subsequently denied plaintiff’s petition for certiorari.
Type of Case: JOA Disputes, Accounting & Audit Disputes, Appellate Litigation
Confidential
Represented non-operator in a joint operating agreement dispute over operator's development of depth-severed working interests. Filed arbitration demanding millions of dollars and proceeded to four-day final hearing. Case is ongoing.
Type of Case: JOA Disputes
Legacy Reserves Operating, Ector County District Court, Texas
Represented Legacy Reserves in a dispute under a Unit Operating Agreement (“UOA”) related to claims for plugging, abandoning and decommissioning costs. Plaintiff claimed that Legacy Reserves was responsible for substantial amount of future costs related to planned abandonment of West Texas oil and gas wells. As counsel for Legacy Reserves, asserted a counterclaim for salvage costs related to those wells. Following discovery and additional pleadings, the case settled for a confidential amount.
Type of Case: JOA Disputes, Plugging & Abandonment Disputes
Michael Mann, The Land Department, Inc., and Cypress Rock Land Services, LLC, Southern District of Texas
Defended The Land Department and related entities in case arising from the operation of an oilfield prospect in Walker and San Jacinto Counties. R.P. Small, the operator of the prospect, alleged that the defendants, who had provided land services, were actually contract operators responsible for the entire prospect and that they had improperly performed their duties in that role. R.P. Small claimed more than $10 million in damages. Case settled for less than $5,000 to R.P. Small after the Court granted defendants' motion to dismiss most of R.P. Small's claims.
Type of Case: JOA Disputes, Oilfield Service & Vendor Litigation
Arch DW Reagan 2021 LP & AIP DW Reagan, LP v Kimmeridge Texas Gas, LLC, in the 14th Judicial District Court, Dallas County, Texas
Represented operator in joint operating agreement lawsuit with non-operator. Non-operator alleged that operator breached the operating agreement after wells were damaged by offset completions. Filed counterclaim for unpaid joint interest billings related to workovers. The case settled on confidential terms.
Type of Case: Subsurface Trespass Disputes, JOA Disputes, JIB Disputes
Trinity Royalty Partners, LP v De Midland III, LLC & Pioneer Natural Resources USA, Inc., in the 385th Judicial District Court, Midland County, Texas
Represented non-operator Trinity Royalty Partners in lawsuit involving a complex title dispute and over the operator's development of depth-severed working interest. Filed suit to confirm Trinity's ownership of additional working interest that operator refused to recognize. Also filed claims over operator's development of depth-severed working interests. Case is ongoing.
Type of Case: JOA Disputes, Title Disputes
Confidential Litigation in the 118th District Court, Glasscock County, Texas
Representing confidential Defendant in an ongoing Permian Basin JOA dispute in Glasscock County, Texas involving alleged non-operator ownership interests and claims for breach of contract, declaratory relief, and accounting. Plaintiff seeks less than $1 million related to division orders and participation rights tied to multiple horizontal wells. The Defendant is defending claims concerning operator succession and enforcement of legacy joint operating agreements. Case is ongoing.
Type of Case: JOA Disputes
Marathon Oil Permian LLC, 5th Judicial District Court, Eddy County, New Mexico
Represented Marathon in a breach of Joint Operating Agreement suit brought by non-operating working interest owners in New Mexico. Plaintiffs claimed that Marathon, as operator, was required to inform them when a lease-holding well went down. After moving to exclude plaintiffs' expert and for summary judgment on Marathon's counterclaim for unpaid JIBs, the parties entered a confidential settlement.
Type of Case: JOA Disputes
McCully-Chapman Exploration, Inc. v. Ovintiv USA Inc.
Representing Ovintiv USA in a federal bench trial in the Western District of Texas concerning application of a joint operating agreement (JOA). Plaintiff, a working interest owner in dozens of horizontal wells drilled by Ovintiv in Upton County, sued Ovintiv, asserting that a model form JOA executed in the 1980s—before the Shale Revolution—is inapplicable to horizontal wells drilled and completed between 2019 and 2021. Ovintiv maintains that the JOA applies to horizontal allocation wells traversing the contract area of the JOA, subjecting plaintiff to contractual “non-consent penalties.” Plaintiff also asserted title claims, alleging that Ovintiv had under-credited its interest in several wells.
After securing a pre-trial dismissal of plaintiff’s title claims, tried the JOA dispute to the bench in September 2025. Awaiting decision.
Type of Case: JOA Disputes, Allocation Well Disputes in Texas, Adverse Possession
Mewbourne Oil Company, Western District of Oklahoma
Representing Mewbourne in dispute brought by non-operator alleging Mewbourne failed to follow accounting procedures in multiple JOAs and failed to fully pay non-operator for its share of production revenue. Case is ongoing.
Type of case: JOA Disputes, Accounting & Audit Disputes
South Texas Shale, in the 234th Judicial District Court, Harris County, Texas
Represented several oil and gas companies in defending a case filed by Swift Energy alleging a breach of the parties’ joint operating agreement and related AMI agreement. Successfully obtained a transfer of the case to a favorable venue. Soon after, filed counterclaims seeking operatorship under the parties’ joint operating agreement and seeking a related temporary injunction. The dispute resolved in advance of the temporary injunction hearing.
Type of Case: JOA Disputes, AMI Disputes, Lease Ownership Disputes
Confidential Pre-Arbitration Dispute
Represented Fortune 500 oil and gas exploration company in an audit dispute with a joint-venture partner. Joint-venture partner sought nearly $50 million under the parties’ joint operating agreements based on amounts billed to the joint-venture account. Following exchange of materials and position papers, mediated and resolved dispute on a confidential basis.
Type of Case: JOA Disputes, Accounting & Audit Disputes
Atlas Operating, in the 281st Judicial District Court, Harris County, Texas
Represented Atlas Operating in lawsuit against non-operator seeking to take over as operator under a JOA governing wells in the Eagle Ford Shale. Filed, argued, and secured temporary injunction barring non-operator from proceeding before Texas Railroad Commission in effort to remove Atlas Operating as operator. Case settled on confidential terms following the Court’s issuing of the injunction.
Type of Case: JIB Disputes, JOA Disputes
Atlas Energy OBO, in the 127th Judicial District Court, Harris County, Texas
Representing Atlas Energy OBO in lawsuit against operator based on operator’s refusal to permit non-operator to participate in wells proposed under Joint Operating Agreement. Case is ongoing.
Type of Case: JOA Disputes