Ruling that lessees failed to comply with the pooling provisions in the leases

BROWNING OIL COMPANY INC v. LUECKE |

CONCLUSION

We affirm the trial court’s dismissal of Browning’s counterclaim and its ruling that Lessees failed to comply with the pooling provisions in the leases. This failure rendered the purported pooled units invalid with regard to the Lueckes’ tracts. The Lueckes were entitled to royalties on the oil and gas produced from their land, but were not entitled to royalties on production that was recovered from lands they do not own. The charge to the jury failed to provide jurors the proper grounds and correct principles of law for calculating the royalties due the Lueckes under these circumstances and was fatally defective. In the interest of justice, we remand to the trial court for a new trial on damages consistent with this opinion. Accordingly, we also reverse the awards of attorneys’ fees and prejudgment interest based on the damage award and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

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