Justia U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals Opinion Summaries

Plaintiffs, three Mexican states, filed suit against BP and others for damages incurred as a result of the 2010 oil spill from the Deepwater Horizon drilling unit off the Louisiana coast. The district court granted summary judgment to defendants because plaintiffs did not hold a sufficient "proprietary interest" in the allegedly damaged property. The court affirmed, concluding that the Robins Dry Dock doctrine bars recovery in this case where plaintiffs , while they have some authority to use or exploit some of the land and other resources at issue here, do not have a proprietary interest that rises to the requisite level for the court to permit the recovery of economic damages under its case law. View "State of Veracruz v. BP" on Justia Law

A blowout of oil, natural gas, and mud occurred in 2010 during deepwater drilling operations at the Macondo well, located on the Outer Continental Shelf (“OCS”) in the waters of the Gulf of Mexico. At the time of the blowout, the Deepwater Horizon, a drilling rig chartered by BP, plc. from Transocean Ltd., was attached to the Macondo well. Eleven men died from the resulting explosions and fires on the Deepwater Horizon. Defendants Robert Kaluza and Donald Vidrine were “well site leaders,” the highest ranking BP employees working on the rig. Defendants were indicted by a federal grand jury in the Eastern District of Louisiana on 23 counts, including 11 counts of seaman’s manslaughter. The district court granted Defendants’ motion to dismiss for failure to charge an offense because neither defendant fell within the meaning of the criminal statute. The government appealed this determination. Because the Fifth Circuit agreed that neither defendant fell within the meaning of the phrase “[e]very . . . other person employed on any . . . vessel,” the Court affirmed. View "United States v. Kaluza" on Justia Law

Sundown filed suit against defendants in state and federal court seeking a partition of land they co-owned, return of rental payments, and a right of way over Defendant Haller's property. In appeal No. 13-30294, Sundown challenges the district court's interpretation of the settlement agreement. In appeal No. 13-30721, Sundown challenges the district court's enforcement of the settlement. In appeal No. 13-30748, defendants challenged the district court's denial of their motion for contempt. The court held that the district court erred when it interpreted the settlement agreement to include those items not mentioned during the parties' oral recitation of the settlement agreement; the district court abused its discretion when it enforced the settlement agreement; and defendants failed to demonstrate that the district court clearly erred in its factual findings in regards to the denial of the motion for contempt. Accordingly, the court reversed in part and affirmed in part. View "Sundown Energy v. Haller" on Justia Law

LPSC sought review of FERC's orders relating to the allocation of production costs among Entergy's six operating companies. LPSC argued that certain revenues and expenses should be removed from the bandwidth calculation for 2008 because they were not incurred in that test year and that the production cost formula should account for the mid-year acquisition of generation facilities by Entergy Gulf States Louisiana and Entergy Arkansas on a partial-year basis. The court concluded that FERC reasonably excluded challenges to the "justness and reasonableness" of formula inputs from annual bandwidth implementation proceedings where FERC reasonably interpreted the System Agreement and correctly applied the filed rate doctrine, and FERC's reversal of its initial interpretation of the scope of bandwidth implementation proceedings was not arbitrary. The court also concluded that FERC reasonably required Entergy to include casualty loss Net Accumulated Deferred Income Taxes (ADIT) in its third bandwidth calculation where LPSC had notice of the casualty loss ADIT issue, and FERC's decision to include casualty loss ADIT in the bandwidth formula was rational. Accordingly, the court denied LPSC's petition for review. View "Louisiana Public Svc. Cmsn. v. FERC" on Justia Law

This appeal concerns the Texas PUC's interpretation and implementation of a federal statutory and regulatory scheme governing the purchase of energy between public utilities and certain energy production facilities known as Qualifying Facilities. Exelon, qualifying wind generation facilities, challenged a state rule and order which prohibited it from forming Legally Enforceable Obligations when selling power. The court vacated the portion of the judgment regarding Exelon's challenge to the PUC's order and directed the district court to dismiss for want of subject matter jurisdiction. The court reversed as to the remaining challenges to the rule and remanded because PUC acted within its discretion and properly implemented the federal regulation at issue.View "Exelon Wind 1, L.L.C., et al. v. Nelson, et al." on Justia Law

Drillers filed a mineral lien on Debtor's well after Drillers performed work on the well and were never paid. The bankruptcy court dismissed Drillers' constructive trust and equitable lien claims and granted summary judgment to Debtors on Drillers' mineral contractor's and subcontractor's lien claims. The district court affirmed. The court affirmed the dismissal of Drillers' constructive trust and equitable lien claims. However, the court reversed and remanded the grant of summary judgment on Drillers' mineral subcontractors' lien claims because Drillers submitted sufficient evidence to survive summary judgment. The court held that it is possible under Texas law for an owner to also be a contractor, and for a laborer to secure liens against both the contracting and non-contracting owners. Viewed in the light most favorable to Drillers, the facts demonstrate that Drillers were subcontractors with regard to Debtors.View "Endeavor Energy Resources, L.P, et al. v. Heritage Consolidated, L.L.C., et al." on Justia Law

Plaintiffs filed suit against defendants, the owners and operators of a neighboring mineral lease, alleging that defendants committed "unlawful drainage" in violation of federal and Louisiana law. The district court subsequently dismissed the Second Amended Complaint (SAC) under Rule 12(b)(6). The court concluded that the SAC stated a claim for waste against Defendant IP, the company that allegedly perforated a hydrocarbon reservoir named the K-1 sands. The court concluded, however, that the SAC insufficiently alleged that the non-perforating defendants committed waste. Accordingly, the court affirmed in part, vacated in part, and remanded.View "Breton Energy, L.L.C., et al. v. Mariner Energy Resources, Inc., et al." on Justia Law

Entergy sells electricity in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas through its six operating companies. The System Agreement governs dealings between the companies and establishes an operating committee. In Appeal No. 13-60140, the first three orders on review arose from the Arkansas Commission's complaint requesting that FERC modify the System Agreement. In Appeal No. 13-60141, the two orders on review relate to a second bandwidth proceeding. The court concluded that FERC's corrective interpretation of the System Agreement's depreciation formula was reasonable, not arbitrary, and not otherwise discordant with law. The Louisiana Commission also challenged Entergy's reversal of the Vidalia transaction under the language of the System Agreement as an impermissible change to the formula rate without proper notice. The court dismissed the petition as an impermissible collateral attack. View "LA Public Service Commission v. FERC" on Justia Law

Lessors appealed the district court's grant of summary judgment in favor of the lessee, Chesapeake, in this dispute over oil and gas lease royalty provisions. The court concluded that the value of the lessors' royalty is a percentage of the market value at the point of sale, which in this case is at the well; a "net-back" method of calculation does not "burden" or reduce the value of the royalty; Chesapeake has sold the gas at the wellhead and that is the point of sale at which market value must be calculated under the terms of the lessors' lease; and the Texas court's decision in Heritage Res., Inc. v. NationsBank, remains binding law. Therefore, the court affirmed the judgment of the district court.View "Potts, et al. v. Chesapeake Exploration, L.L.C." on Justia Law

Plaintiff filed suit against Denbury, alleging that Denbury breached its duty to act as a reasonable and prudent operator of the well that was drilled under oil, gas, and mineral leases. At issue on appeal was whether the district court erred in remanding the case on the basis that the local single event exclusion under the Class Action Fairness Act (CAFA), 28 U.S.C. 1332(d)(11)(B)(ii), (ii)(I), applies to this case. The court concluded that the plain text of the exclusion supports plaintiffs' view that the terms "event" and "occurrence" are not generally understood to apply only to incidents that occur at a discrete moment in time. Moreover, this understanding is supported by legislative history and other case law interpreting the local single event exclusion. Therefore, the court held that, although the exclusion applied in cases in which the single event or occurrence happens at a discrete moment in time, the single event or occurrence may also be constituted by a pattern of conduct in which the pattern is consistent in leading to a single focused event that culminates in the basis of the asserted liability. Accordingly, the court held that the failure of the Well constituted the "event or occurrence" from which the claims of plaintiffs arose. The court affirmed the judgment of the district court.View "Rainbow Gun Club, Inc., et al. v. Denbury Onshore, L.L.C., et al." on Justia Law