Ranch v. Exxonmobil Corp.

456 S.W.3d 332, 2015 Tex. App. LEXIS 302, 2015 WL 181651
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJanuary 14, 2015
DocketNo. 08-13-00281-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 456 S.W.3d 332 (Ranch v. Exxonmobil Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ranch v. Exxonmobil Corp., 456 S.W.3d 332, 2015 Tex. App. LEXIS 302, 2015 WL 181651 (Tex. Ct. App. 2015).

Opinion

OPINION

YVONNE T. RODRIGUEZ, Justice

In this groundwater pollution case, Appellant land owners seek reversal of a take-nothing summary judgment granted in favor of ExxonMobil Corporation (“Exx-onMobil”) on claims for injunctive relief against purportedly imminent and irreparable hydrocarbon contamination of subsurface land, groundwater, and á nearby aquifer. We reverse and remand.

BACKGROUND

Factual History

Appellants own 20,000 acres of land spread across Ector,' Crane, Ward, and Winkler counties known as the Lazy R Ranch. Relevant to this appeal are five areas of concern (“AOCs”) within ranch boundaries: the ExxonMobil Pipeline Company Tank Farm (“AOC No. 1”); ExxonMobil/Aghorn YA Tank Battery No. 7 (“AOC No. 2”); the ExxonMobil Abandoned Tank Battery Northeast (“AOC No. 3”); the ExxonMobil Abandoned Tank Battery Northwest (“AOC No. 4”); and ExxonMobil/Aghorn Tank Battery No. 19 (“AOC No. 5”). ExxonMobil Corporation owned, operated, and maintained exclusive control over AOC Nos. 2 through 5 until June 1, 2008, when Aghorn Energy bought out ExxonMobil’s lease.1 Prior to the lease transfer, ExxonMobil Corporation had abandoned AOC Nos. 3 and 4.

Appellants maintain that on or about March 31, 2009, they first discovered that benzene and other hydrocarbons had leached into subsurface soil and groundwa[335]*335ter located at the five AOC sites, including the four under ExxonMobil’s exclusive control. ExxonMobil disputes that Appellants actually discovered contamination on this date. In deposition, Appellant Helen A. McDaniel testified that she had seen numerous, “obvious” surface spills throughout the years on the ranch and that the land looked like an oilfield. However, she also maintained in an affidavit that Exxon-Mobil representatives told her they would clean up any spills and would inform her of any major spills.

Appellants retained environmental expert Jerry D. Nickell, Sr., to assess the source and extent of contamination. Nic-kell’s report indicates that he found hydrocarbon contamination in the soil at all four AOC sites controlled by ExxonMobil in amounts that exceed both Tier 1 Protective Concentration Levels administratively set pursuant to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality’s (“TCEQ”) Texas Risk Reduction Program, as well as levels set by the Railroad Commission of Texas (“the Railroad Commission”). Nickell also found hydrocarbon groundwater contamination and a plume of free-phase crude oil on the groundwater table at AOC No. 4.

Nickell predicted that if the land is left in its current state, hydrocarbon pollution will continue to migrate through currently uncontaminated soil and groundwater and could potentially pollute an aquifer located underneath the ranch. Nickell characterized the harm from this contamination as being irreparable because contaminated groundwater and aquifers cannot be reasonably restored to their natural state following contamination. He also stated that immediate action was needed to remove the source of the contamination in order to preserve the integrity of uncontaminated soil, groundwater, and the aquifer.

Procedural History

Appellants filed suit in October 2009, and amended their petition on February 8, 2013. In their live pleadings, Appellants brought claims for injunctive relief;2 negligence and negligence per se; trespass; nuisance and nuisance per se; breach of contract and implied covenants; and attorney’s fees and court costs.

ExxonMobil twice moved for hybrid summary judgment. The trial court denied ExxonMobil’s initial hybrid motion for summary judgment. ExxonMobil then filed a second hybrid motion for summary judgment, arguing (1) that Appellants’ claims were time-barred by the statute of limitations, (2) Appellants were not entitled to the $6,305,370.00 in remediation damages they requested because the most they could claim was diminution value of the land, and (3) Appellants failed to provide evidence of property value diminution. Appellants countered that the statute of limitations did not apply because they sought to enjoin a continuing nuisance, ExxonMobil failed to establish a date of claim accrual; and, alternatively, limitations had been tolled by the discovery rule or the fraudulent concealment doctrine. Appellants also noted the damages request that ExxonMobil complained of no longer appeared in the amended pleadings at the time ExxonMobil filed its second motion for summary judgment.

Following a hearing, the trial court issued a general order granting ExxonMo-bil’s second hybrid motion for summary [336]*336judgment without specifying upon which grounds its judgment rested. It is this order that Appellants seek to reverse.

DISCUSSION

Appellants challenge the trial court’s grant of summary judgment on two grounds. In Issue One, they contend that their claims for equitable relief were not time-barred by the statute of limitations, since either the contamination was a continuing nuisance not subject to limitations or, alternatively, ExxonMobil failed to establish dates of accrual for all claims as a matter of law. Appellants also argue that any limitations were tolled under the discovery rule or the fraudulent concealment doctrine. In Issue Two, Appellants assert that they are specifically entitled by statute to seek injunctive relief against Exxon-Mobil, contrary to ExxonMobil’s assertion before this Court that Appellants are only entitled to seek diminution damages for contamination that has already occurred. We address these issues in reverse order, beginning with Issue Two before moving on to Issue One.

Standard of Review.

We review summary judgment grants de novo. Merriman v. XTO Energy, Inc., 407 S.W.3d 244, 248 (Tex.2013). When a party moves for hybrid summary judgment, we generally address the no-evidence grounds first before turning, if necessary, to the traditional grounds. Id. However, in determining whether a mov-ant has actually presented a hybrid motion for summary judgment, we look to motion’s substance and not its title. See id. Since, as we explain below, the only actual dispute in this case concerns an affirmative defense ExxonMobil raised on summary judgment, and since an affirmative defense may only be raised in a traditional motion for summary judgment and not a no-evidence motion, see Killam Ranch Props., Ltd. v. Webb County, 376 S.W.3d 146, 157-58 (Tex.App.-San Antonio 2012, pet. denied), we set out and apply the traditional standard here.

A movant must show there is no genuine issue of material fact and it is entitled to judgment as a matter of law to receive summary judgment. Tex.R.Civ.P. 166a(c). We take as true all evidence favorable to the non-movant, and we indulge every reasonable inference and resolve any doubts in the non-movant’s favor. Valence Operating Co. v. Dorsett, 164 S.W.3d 656, 661 (Tex.2005). “A defendant moving for summary judgment on the affirmative defense of limitations has the burden to conclusively establish that defense. When the plaintiff pleads the discovery rule as an exception to limitations, the defendant must negate that exception as well.” Velsicol Chem. Corp. v. Winograd,

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Related

ExxonMobil Corp. v. Lazy R Ranch, LP
511 S.W.3d 538 (Texas Supreme Court, 2017)
Crockett County, Texas v. Klassen Energy, Inc.
463 S.W.3d 908 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2015)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
456 S.W.3d 332, 2015 Tex. App. LEXIS 302, 2015 WL 181651, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ranch-v-exxonmobil-corp-texapp-2015.