Boone v. Conoco Phillips Co.

139 So. 3d 1047, 13 La.App. 3 Cir. 1196, 2014 WL 1802535, 2014 La. App. LEXIS 1204
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMay 7, 2014
DocketNo. 13-1196
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 139 So. 3d 1047 (Boone v. Conoco Phillips Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Boone v. Conoco Phillips Co., 139 So. 3d 1047, 13 La.App. 3 Cir. 1196, 2014 WL 1802535, 2014 La. App. LEXIS 1204 (La. Ct. App. 2014).

Opinion

THIBODEAUX, Chief Judge.

|)The plaintiffs, Carlos and Lori Boone, appeal from a motion for summary judgment and exception of prescription decided adversely to them and filed by EnerQuest Oil & Gas, LLC, lessee of former owners of the plaintiffs’ property. Finding that the plaintiffs failed to carry their burden of proving a valid right of action in tort or contract, we affirm the judgment dismissing EnerQuest from the plaintiffs’ suit.

I.

ISSUES

We must decide:

(1) whether the trial court erred in granting summary judgment to En-erQuest; and
(2) whether the trial court manifestly erred in granting EnerQuest’s exception of prescription.

II.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

In August of 2005 the Boones purchased 18.66 acres of land encumbered by mineral reservations and oil and gas leases; the sale price was $120,000.00. The sellers, Primeaux Properties, Inc., had purchased the encumbered property in 2003 from Aaron Lagneaux and Eric Lagneaux for $105,000.00. Oil and gas operations on the property allegedly date back to 1972. The Lagneaux acquisition was via generational inheritances dating back to 1971, and it apparently included the minerals because Lagneaux specifically reserved “all 12of the minerals and mineral rights” to the property in its act of sale to Primeaux in 2003.

The defendant oil and gas operator, En-erQuest, had purchased the wells and operating rights from Phillips Petroleum Company in 2000. EnerQuest sold all of its operating rights and interest in the property, along with all of its leases, facilities, wells, and equipment to Petro “E” in 2004. The sale and assignment to Petro “E” included EnerQuest’s use of, and obligation to clean and restore, the surface of the property.

In May of 2010, the Boones, asserting contamination and property damage, filed suit against six oil and gas operators, including CONOCOPHILLIPS Company as successor to Phillips, EnerQuest, Petro “E,” and three other operators. The Boones asserted that they had within the last year found abandoned debris and equipment and asserted a failure to properly clean and restore the property. In a first amended petition in July of 2012, the Boones identified three of five wells on the property that had been operated by Ener-Quest prior to its sale to Petro “E.”

EnerQuest filed a motion for summary judgment asserting that the Boones were precluded by law from asserting a tort or contract claim for property damage that pre-dated their 2005 acquisition of the property without a specific assignment of that right from the former owner. Among its exhibits, EnerQuest attached an “Oper[1051]*1051ator History by Well” for each of its three former wells, showing that EnerQuest did not conduct any operations on the property after April 30, 2004, when it sold its rights and interest to Petro “E,” effective May 1, 2004. EnerQuest also attached the act of sale from Primeaux to the Boones dated August 26, 2005, showing that no assignment of pre-acquisition damage rights were conveyed to the Boones by the previous owner, Primeaux.

|3The Boones’ opposition to the motion for summary judgment included newly-obtained assignments of rights from the previous owners, Primeaux and Lagneaux. EnerQuest asserted that the assignments were invalid and that any tort claims they sought to transfer were prescribed since Lagneaux sold the property in 2003 and Primeaux sold the property in 2005.

The trial court allowed the Boones permission to file a second supplemental and amending petition asserting their right as assignees to the rights of the previous owners; claims for fraud and conspiracy, as well as the solidary liability of all defendants. The trial court then granted Ener-Quest’s motion for summary judgment and exception of prescription.

III.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

The grant or denial of a motion for summary judgment is reviewed de novo, “using the same criteria that govern the trial court’s determination of whether summary judgment is appropriate; i.e. whether there is any genuine issue of material fact, and whether the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Samaha v. Rau, 07-1726, pp. 3-4 (La.2/26/08), 977 So.2d 880, 882-83 (citations omitted); La.Code Civ.P. art. 966. “When prescription is raised by peremptory exception, with evidence being introduced at the hearing on the exception, the trial court’s findings of fact on the issue of prescription are subject to the manifest error-clearly wrong standard of review.” Specialized Loan Servicing LLC v. January, 12-2668, pp. 3-4 (La.6/28/13), 119 So.3d 582, 584 (citations omitted).

Ji.IV.

LAW AND DISCUSSION

At issue in this matter is the correctness of the trial court’s judgment granting the motion for summary judgment and the exception of prescription filed by the defendant, EnerQuest. The bases of Ener-Quest’s motion and exception are that the Boones (1) have no valid contract claims against EnerQuest because the subsequent purchaser doctrine invalidates their claims for pre-acquisition property damage; the plaintiffs are not a party to any lease, assignment, or other contract with Ener-Quest; and the plaintiffs did not obtain an assignment of any contractual rights from the previous owners. EnerQuest further asserts that the Boones (2) have no claims in tort because any tort claims acquired from the previous owners have prescribed; the claims asserted in the plaintiffs’ second supplemental petition do not relate back to the original petition; and EnerQuest is not solidarity liable with Petro E for any actionable tort claims.

The Boones argue that (1) their contract claims are valid because the subsequent purchaser doctrine does not apply; the relevant contracts give them a right of action to sue for damages and restoration of the property; and the contract claims have not prescribed because EnerQuest operated under mineral leases until 2004, and the surface lease was in effect until 2012. As to the tort claims, the Boones argue that (2) they timely asserted tort claims against solidary and/or joint tortfea-sors; they obtained valid assignments of the tort claims at the time of the damage; and their second supplemental petition re[1052]*1052lates back to the filing of their original petition for damages.

We begin with a review of the subsequent purchaser rule or doctrine.

| ^Subsequent Purchaser Doctrine

The subsequent purchaser rule is a jurisprudential rule which holds that an owner of property has no right or actual interest in recovering from a third party for damage which was inflicted on the property before his purchase, in the absence of an assignment or sub-rogation of the rights belonging to the owner of the property when the damage was inflicted.

Eagle Pipe and Supply, Inc. v. Amerada Hess Corp., 10-2267, p. 8 (La.10/25/11), 79 So.3d 246, 256-57.

In articulating the application and source of the subsequent purchaser doctrine, the Louisiana Supreme Court in Eagle Pipe and Supply, Inc. provided a thorough analysis of the pertinent principles of Louisiana property law and Louisiana’s law of obligations in the Louisiana Civil Code.

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Bluebook (online)
139 So. 3d 1047, 13 La.App. 3 Cir. 1196, 2014 WL 1802535, 2014 La. App. LEXIS 1204, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/boone-v-conoco-phillips-co-lactapp-2014.