United States v. James W. Williams

431 F.2d 1168, 1970 U.S. App. LEXIS 7317
Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit·Decided September 16, 1970·No. 26829, 26830·Published·Cited by 14 cases

Opinion

ON PETITIONS FOR REHEARING

PER CURIAM:

The Government petitions for rehearing in Case No. 26829, and Williams petitions for rehearing in Case No. 26830. We consider the petitions separately and deny them both.

No. 26829

We reversed the judgment of conviction in No. 26829 1 *because the admission of certain testimony of the witness Jeffrey denied Williams the right of confrontation guaranteed by the Sixth Amendment to the Constitution. On petition for rehearing en banc the Government makes two contentions: (I) It forthrightly challenges that holding; and (II) it contends that the admission of Jeffrey’s testimony, if error, does not call for reversal as to counts of the indictment other than counts nine, ten and eleven.

I. The Admission of Jeffrey’s Testimony.

Over explicit and repeated objections of the defendant Williams, the Government was permitted to prove by its expert witness Jeffrey his estimates of the net future earnings, as of January 1, 1967, of two producing oil and gas properties, the Irving properties and the Wil-crof properties, when the records upon which Jeffrey based those estimates were not proved to be correct or even authenticated as the records of the two companies, and were never introduced in evidence.

Irving Petroleum Investment, Inc. and Wilcrof, Inc. were corporations controlled by defendant Ernest M. Hall, Jr. and his brother, Fred L. Hall. As to each of the properties, the indictment charged that the price paid was materially greater than the fair market value of the property. Jeffrey’s estimates went to prove those allegations.

Jeffrey had testified that to estimate the fair market value of producing oil and gas properties “the important thing is to determine the future reserve and net income of the property.” 2 He then described the steps he took in making an appraisal of the two properties:

[1170]*1170“The first step, of course, is to gather all the information that is available on the property, the map or maps of the leases, any records as to the drilling and completion of the well, electrical logs which are electrical surveys made in the hole showing the characteristics of the formations in which the hole is drilled, core analysis, which are analysis [sic] of samples of the rock which are obtained in the drilling of the wells, past production history of oil or gas, bottom hole pressure, which is the actual pressure of the fluid in the reservoir of rock and any other data which would be of benefit in determining the extent of the reservoir and the nature of the reservoir.
“Then, after this basic data is obtained, the maps are prepared showing the structural contours of the reservoirs, the position of gas or gas caps or water tables. This is the elevation of the water below the oil or gas because the oil and gas will float on the water.
“The thickness of the reservoir rock, which contains hydrocarbons to determine the perosity, the void space in the rock, which is present to contain hydrocarbons, the amounts which contain gas and the amount which contains water, and the amount which contains oil.
“And, after determining all those factors, calculations are made of the volume of the reservoir and the amount of oil and gas present and the amount of recoverable oil and gas in the reservoir.
“Other methods of appraisal are used if there is sufficient production history so that the established production of the trend is noticeable.
“For instance, if a well has been producing for a number of years and has shown a consistent decline in production, then it is possible to extract that to an economic limit and determine the reserves. That is when the operating expenses exceed the income, at which time the production is no longer possible.
“After determining the reserves, records of performance are examined to determine what the operating cost of these properties have been, and what the selling price of the oil is and what the selling price of the gas is, and then economic projections of future income are prepared, using estimates [sic] rates of production by year with the selling price of oil and gas per barrel or per thousand cubic feet of gas to determine the gross income of the property for each year, and then severance taxes, ad valorem taxes and the operating expenses are deducted from the gross operating income to arrive at the net operating income; also any future capital expenditures are deducted from the gross income.
“And after determining the flow or the cash flow of net income by years, it is customary to discount future net income by years, using some discount factor which is usually based on the going rate of interest that a person would have to pay to borrow money, and this is called the discounted future net income, or sometimes called the present net worth of future net income.
“Then, after obtaining the present net worth of future net income, or discounted future net income, there are various methods of arriving at fair market value of the property from that figure.
“Some arbitrary fraction of that figure is usually taken as the fair market value, depending upon the needs or the financial position or the requirements of the purchaser. A property may be worth more to one purchaser than to another, depending on his ability to borrow money on this particular property or depending on the rate of return that he desires on his investment.
“Q. Mr. Jeffrey, you have given a quick summary of a very detailed analysis, I take it, inspection of histories, past financial data available to you, and the steps you take thereupon to make your evaluations, I anticipate that you leave out quite a number of factors, price per barrel of oil being determined by the gravity of the oil, the marketability of the oil of that particular lease, and its position within the field, and its access to pipelines?
[1171]*1171“A. Yes. Of course, when a property is evaluated, it is usually known what the going price for crude or gas is in that particular field at that time. Sometimes it is customary or sometimes the evaluation engineer will take into consideration future escalations in the price of oil and gas, but ordinarily that is not done with oil. It’s sometimes done with gas, where gas contracts provide for escalation in the price of gas in the future.3
U * * *
“Q. In performing your geologic and engineering functions of this appraisal, and outlining the steps of a formal evaluation and appraisal as you did to the jury, were these functions and each of these steps performed in the evaluation of these properties ?
“A. Yes.
“Q. Now, generally, what were the general documentations of financial data, geologic reservoir information, well logs, related items with reference to your basis for the evaluation and appraisal, would you generally describe it?
“A.

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United States v. James W. Williams, 431 F.2d 1168, 1970 U.S. App. LEXIS 7317 (5th Cir. 1970).

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