Chesapeake Operating, Inc. v. City of Shreveport

132 So. 3d 537, 2014 WL 309395, 2014 La. App. LEXIS 175
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJanuary 29, 2014
DocketNos. 48,608-CA, 48,609-CA, 48,610-CA, 48,611-CA
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 132 So. 3d 537 (Chesapeake Operating, Inc. v. City of Shreveport) 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
Chesapeake Operating, Inc. v. City of Shreveport, 132 So. 3d 537, 2014 WL 309395, 2014 La. App. LEXIS 175 (La. Ct. App. 2014).

Opinion

STEWART, J.

hThe res nova issue presented in this appeal concerns whether annexation by the City of Shreveport (“the city”) of Cad-do Parish territory, which included dedicated public roads, transferred ownership of the public roads and underlying acreage to the city so that the city, rather than Caddo Parish, is entitled to the proceeds of mineral production attributable to that acreage. On competing summary judgment motions, the trial court concluded that the city did not acquire ownership of the dedicated public roads upon annexation. For reasons explained in this opinion, our de novo review leads this court to conclude otherwise and hold as a matter of law that annexation by the city of territory in which public roads are located had the effect of transferring any parish ownership of roads and underlying acreage to the city.

FACTS

Chesapeake Operating, Inc. (“Chesapeake”), filed four separate concursus actions naming the city and the Caddo Parish Commission (“the parish”) as defendants to determine whether the city or the parish is entitled to receive the royalties from mineral production from gas wells operated by Chesapeake and located in Sections 6, 7, 8, and 17 all within Township 16 North, Range 14 West. Both the city and parish executed mineral leases covering the disputed public roads. By instrument dated August 12, 2009, the State Mineral and Energy Board (“the board”) granted on behalf of the parish as lessor a mineral lease in favor of Merit Energy Services covering 158.58 acres. By instrument dated October 14, 2009, the board granted on behalf of the city as lessor a mineral lease in favor of Cypress Energy ^Corporation covering approximately 478.288 acres. By virtue of their leases, both the parish and the city claimed entitlement to the royalties attributable to all acreage underlying public roads, streets, and highways in the covered sections. Exhibits listing the disputed roads, streets, and highways at issue are attached to each concursus petition and show that the total acreage in dispute is less than 80 acres. The four concursus actions were consolidated by order of the trial court on March 12, 2012.

The conflicting claims by the parish and city resulted from the city’s annexation of parish property, which the city contends transferred ownership, including mineral rights, of public roads and roadbeds within [540]*540the annexed territory. The parish asserts that the property in dispute was dedicated to public use prior to the city’s annexation, which did not transfer ownership of the roads and roadbeds from it to the city.

EXCO Operating Company, LP (“EXCO”), the party to whom Cypress had assigned its interest in the city’s lease, intervened in the concursus proceedings in alignment with the interests of the city.1 On July 18, 2012, EXCO filed a motion for summary judgment to have the city declared the owner of the disputed property.2 Among its exhibits, EXCO included conflicting attorney general opinions, discussed infra, addressing the effect of annexation. EXCO also included a legal memorandum by Christopher J. Tyson, a law professor, analyzing Louisiana annexation law.

[¡¡Following EXCO’s lead and adopting its arguments, the city filed its own motion for summary judgment to have it declared the owner of the proceeds of mineral production attributable to all the dedicated roadways at issue in the consolidated con-cursus actions. Among its exhibits, the city included the various annexation ordinances, along with uncertified copies of various dedications of the roads at issue, which Chesapeake had provided to it in discovery.

On September 28, 2012, Chesapeake and the parish filed a cross-motion for a partial summary judgment declaring that annexation by the city did not transfer ownership of the roadbeds and their appurtenant mineral rights. In their motion, they noted that this court had under consideration a matter concerning whether a formal dedication to public use of land for a road transferred ownership or a servitude of use and that a ruling by this court might affect some of the tracts involved in this dispute.3 However, they maintained that the fundamental issue of whether annexation transfers ownership must still be decided.

In their motion, Chesapeake and the parish also sought to have EXCO’s Tyson memorandum stricken as an unsigned, unsworn, and insufficient evidence for summary judgment purposes. Thereafter, EXCO filed a motion to supplement its motion for summary judgment with Tyson’s curriculum vitae and affidavit identifying him as a professor of local government and property law at LSU Law Center.

[/The trial court heard arguments on the competing motions on October 17, 2012, and rendered a written opinion on November 29, 2012. The trial court framed the issues before it concerning the consequences of annexation as whether, upon annexation, the city acquired ownership of the dedicated public roads along with the appurtenant mineral rights within the annexed geographical area or whether the city merely enlarged its boundaries without acquiring ownership of the public roads and mineral rights. The trial court concluded that the city did not show as a matter of law that it acquired ownership of [541]*541the public roads at issue through annexation. Because the parish did not convey ownership of public roads when it agreed to permit annexation of territory encompassing the public roads at issue, the trial court ruled that the parish, not the city, was entitled to execute the mineral leases and receive the proceeds of mineral production attributable to the disputed properties.

Accordingly, the trial court rendered a judgment on December 19, 2012, that denied EXCO’s and the city’s motions for summary judgment, denied EXCO’s motion to supplement, and granted the cross motion for partial summary judgment by the parish and Chesapeake. As provided by La. C.C.P. art.1915, the trial expressly designated this a final judgment for purposes of immediate appeal. Costs were assessed equally between Chesapeake and EXCO.

Following the rendition of the final judgment, the city filed a motion for a new trial and a second motion for summary judgment. The city argued that, under this court’s then recently rendered decision in Webb, supra, the trial court’s judgment was contrary to law. The city sought to have the trial |scourt revisit its prior ruling in light of Webb, supra, and to differentiate between those roads that were the subjects of statutory and formal dedications.

Chesapeake, EXCO, and the parish opposed the city’s motion for new trial and second motion for summary judgment. Their various oppositions noted that' Webb, supra, which did not address annexation, was not contrary to the trial court’s limited ruling on the effect of annexation, that the pendency of the Webb matter before this court had been disclosed to the trial court, and that the trial court had not been asked to opine on factual matters concerning the exact acreage and roads in dispute. After hearing arguments on February, 25, 2013, the trial court denied the city’s motion for a new trial and found its second motion for summary judgment to be moot.

Both EXCO and the city have appealed the denial of their motions for summary judgment and the granting of the motion for partial summary judgment in favor of Chesapeake and the Parish.

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Bluebook (online)
132 So. 3d 537, 2014 WL 309395, 2014 La. App. LEXIS 175, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/chesapeake-operating-inc-v-city-of-shreveport-lactapp-2014.