Shor v. Pelican Oil & Gas Management, LLC

405 S.W.3d 737, 2013 WL 682895, 2013 Tex. App. LEXIS 1824
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedFebruary 26, 2013
DocketNo. 01-11-01062-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by30 cases

This text of 405 S.W.3d 737 (Shor v. Pelican Oil & Gas Management, LLC) 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
Shor v. Pelican Oil & Gas Management, LLC, 405 S.W.3d 737, 2013 WL 682895, 2013 Tex. App. LEXIS 1824 (Tex. Ct. App. 2013).

Opinion

OPINION

EVELYN V. KEYES, Justice.

In this interlocutory appeal, appellants, Toby Shor and Seashore Investments Management Trust, by and through Toby Shor, trustee (collectively, “Shor”), sought execution on a prior judgment awarded in their favor from the assets of appellees, Pelican Oil <& Gas Management, LLC, Pelican Oil & Gas, LP, SGW Interests, LLC, BNP Operating, LLC, and James Black as Trustee of the Paul Patrick Black Heritage Trust (collectively, “the applicants” or “Pelican”). Pelican moved for a temporary injunction to prevent further execution attempts by Shor pending resolution of the issues in the underlying declaratory judgment action, and the trial court granted the requested injunctive relief. In two issues, Shor contends that (1) the trial court lacked subject matter jurisdiction over the case and (2) if the trial court had jurisdiction, it abused its discretion in granting the temporary injunction.

We affirm the temporary injunction order.

Background

Shor originally sued Paul Black, individually, and several entities owned, in whole or in part, by Black — PBF Investments, [740]*740Ltd., BNP Holdings, Ltd., BNP Oil & Gas Properties, Ltd., BNP Commercial Properties, Ltd., Pagenergy Company, L.L.C., TSE Equities I, L.L.C., TSE Equities Company, Ltd., BNP Management, L.L.C., 500 Water Street Property, L.L.C., and 500 N Water Street Property I, L.L.C. — for breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duties, conversion, fraud, fraudulent inducement, and conspiracy to defraud in the County Court at Law Number 3 of Nueces County (“the Nueces County suit”). On August 17, 2010, an arbitration panel found in favor of Shor on all of her claims against the defendants in the arbitration (collectively, “the judgment debtors”) and awarded her over $30 million in damages. On April 6, 2011, the Nueces County court confirmed the arbitration panel’s award and entered judgment in favor of Shor (“the Nueces County judgment”). Black and the other judgment debtors, none of whom are parties to this suit, appealed to the Corpus Christi Court of Appeals, but they did not file a superse-deas bond or otherwise supersede execution on that judgment.1

On August 11, 2011, Shor obtained a turnover order from the Nueces County Court which stated that the judgment debtors were the owners of “shares/stock/ stock certificates/ownership interests” in twenty-three entities related to Paul Black. The turnover order required Black and certain other of the judgment debtors from the arbitration to turn over for levy to the sheriff in Corpus Christi “all documents and records related to” the “shares/ stock/stock certificates/ownership interests” in the twenty-three entities and “all real and personal property located at 500 N. Water Street, Corpus Christi.” The order decreed that “Toby Shor, as Trustee for the Seashore Investments Management Trust, is owner of any and all of judgment debtors’ interests in the entities listed ... above and all real and personal property located at 500 N. Water Street, Corpus Christi.” The headquarters of both the judgment debtors and the applicants are located at 500 N. Water Street. Pursuant to this turnover order, Shor changed the locks on the offices of the entities related to Paul Black that have their headquarters at 500 N. Water Street, and she took possession of the business records and files of the applicants — none of which were named in the turnover order and none of which have been shown to be owned by a judgment debtor or subject to execution.

On October 4, 2011, Pelican filed an original petition in this case in the 12th District Court of Grimes County (“the Grimes County suit”) seeking a declaratory judgment that the applicants are, in fact, not owned by a judgment debtor but by a spendthrift trust, the Paul Patrick Black Heritage Trust (“the Trust”), which is also an applicant, and are not subject to execution to satisfy the debts of the judgment debtors. With its petition, Pelican filed an application for a temporary restraining order, a temporary injunction, and a permanent injunction, seeking to enjoin Shor from seizing any assets of any of the applicants until a legal determination is made in the underlying declaratory judgment action as to whether the assets of the applicants are subject to execution to satisfy the judgment debt Shor is attempting to enforce.

In this suit, Pelican alleged that, in an attempt to collect on the Nueces County judgment, Shor had filed an application for a turnover order seeking applicants’ inter[741]*741ests in real property, including oil and gas leases, located in Grimes County. Pelican alleged that none of the applicants were parties to the Nueces County judgment, and, therefore, Shor could not use their assets to satisfy that judgment. Pelican alleged that, although Paul Black, one of the judgment debtors in the Nueces County suit, was the sole beneficiary of the Trust, Black does not own an interest in any of the parties to this suit, which are all ultimately wholly owned by the Trust, or in any of the assets sought by Shor in her application for turnover relief.

Pelican sought a declaration (1) holding that the applicants are not liable for the debts of Paul Black, (2) holding that they are not liable to Shor “for any monies or debts,” (3) quieting and resolving title to and ownership of the applicants in favor of the Trust, and (4) quieting and resolving title to and ownership of the applicants’ properties, leases, and mineral interests in Grimes County. Pelican also requested that the trial court prevent Shor from “filing liens, interfering in the business relations of the [applicants], or taking any other action including seeking turnover relief in any court ... concerning [applicants] and the [applicants’] mineral interest and oil and gas properties.”

Pelican alleged that it was probable that it would prevail at a trial on the merits because the Nueces County judgment debtor, Paul Black, had no interest in either the applicants or in their Grimes County properties. It also alleged that harm was imminent because Shor had “expressly avowed that [she] will seek the turnover of the [applicants] and their assets, which will damage and cloud the title of [applicants’] oil and gas properties situated in Grimes County.” And it alleged that the harm was irreparable because Shor’s actions would slander the applicants’ title to their mineral interests, would interrupt and interfere with the operation of oil and gas wells, and would make it impossible for the applicants to obtain financing for future drilling operations while the cloud remains on their title. Pelican argued that it had no adequate remedy at law because “the damages from loss of a lease position may be incalculable” and the “real property and mineral estate is unique and cannot be reasonably replaced if lost.”

The Grimes County trial court granted an ex parte temporary restraining order (“TRO”) on the same day that Pelican filed its application and original petition. The order prohibited Shor from: (1) seeking turnover relief or proceeding with other collection efforts pertaining to the applicants; (2) seeking turnover relief or proceeding with other collection efforts pertaining to the applicants’ assets; (3) contacting or interfering in the contracts and business relations of the applicants; (4) taking any other action or instituting any legal action which may slander or cloud title to the “Pelican Oil and Gas Ltd. Wolk lease and/or the Walkoviak Gas Unit and Walkoviak No.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
405 S.W.3d 737, 2013 WL 682895, 2013 Tex. App. LEXIS 1824, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/shor-v-pelican-oil-gas-management-llc-texapp-2013.