Wood
After two trials and nearly five years of litigation, only the attorneys ended up profiting from an oil and gas royalty case, as jurors recently awarded the plaintiff's counsel more than $500,000.
Two years ago, the Southeast Texas Record reported on an oil-and-gas lease trial between M&M Resources and DSTJ Corp., who is also a counter-plaintiff in the lawsuit.
The first trial ended with a hung jury on June 11, 2009. The second trial started Feb. 7 and ended five days later, with jurors opting not to award any damages to either party.
However, according to the charge of the jury, jurors chose to award M&M's attorneys $446,580 for services rendered and additional $53,700 for court costs.
Case background
In 2006, M&M and Energy Land Resources sued DSTJ, claiming DSTJ owed seven months of royalties on an area well shut down by the Texas Railroad Commission, court papers say.
Court records show that on Sept. 22, 2002, M&M assigned 21 leases to DSTJ for a .5 percent royalty fee. Four of the 21 leases were known as the Blackman Tract, a region of land owned by multiple Jefferson County residents.
Once the agreement was in place, DSTJ proceeded to drill the Quail No. 1 well on the Blackman Tract, which was functional from October 2003 until March 2004, when the Texas Railroad Commission sealed it.
"Despite the production obtained from the Quail No. 1, DSTJ has never made any royalty payments to plaintiff," the suit states. "DSTJ's failure to make royalty payments ... constitutes a default of DSTJ's obligations under the assignment."
DSTJ filed a countersuit alleging M&M and ELR were engaged in shady dealings and had snuck "improper lease provisions" into their agreement that prevented DSTJ from pooling the tracts.
Although jurors found that there was an agreement in place between the two parties, no damages were awarded for the alleged breaches.
M&M is represented in part by attorney Terry Wood of the Crutchfield, De Cordova & Wood law firm in Beaumont.
DSTJ is represented in part by the Law Offices of Keith Kebodeaux in Beaumont.
Judge Gary Sanderson, 60th District Court, presided over the trial.
Case No. A172-979