The Louisiana Second Circuit Court of Appeal affirmed the dismissal of a case that was filed to establish if drilling a well was handled in good faith to stop the prescription of a mineral servitude.
Cannisnia Plantation LLC sued Cecil Blount Farms LLC and Blount Company LLC over a well drilled by Blount Company. A lower court ruled against Cannisnia, dismissing the claims with prejudice. The appeals court agreed.
While Cannisnia argued the lower court didn’t correctly place the burden of proof, the appelas judges pointed out that Cannisnia sued the Blounts for allegedly not interrupting prescription of a mineral servitude. The Blounts, in turn, had to give evidence that the prescription was interrupted.
The state's mineral servitude law gives landowners exclusive and unlimited right to explore their land to find minerals and bring them to the surface so they have possession of them.
Cannisnia notes the lower court ruled, “based on the objective evidence presented, this court feels the plaintiffs, in this case, have not proven their case."
But the court of appeal ruled that this statement doesn’t put any burden on the plaintiffs, and the judgment from the lower court doesn’t point to any burden of proof.
“This one sentence in the written opinion is not enough to overturn the trial court’s judgment,” wrote Justice Jeff Cox.
Cannisnia challenged the lower court’s admission of evidence produced after the well was drilled, but the appeals court held the trial court made no error with its decision.
The plaintiff further claimed the Blounts didn’t establish the burden of proof that the well was drilled to produce oil and gas in amounts related to its depth.
“As this ruling is subject to the manifest error standard of review, we cannot overturn the trial court’s finding of fact. This assignment of error lacks merit,” Judge Cox said in the court's decision.
Since the appeals court shut down the other claims, it didn’t address Cannisnia’s claims for damages and attorney fees.
Justice James M. Stephens concurred while Justice Jeff Thompson dissented. Thompson stated that while it’s safe to say the defendant thought it did what was necessary to interrupt prescription, the question is whether it was done in good faith. While the other judges ruled that it was, Stephens disagreed.
Thomas Blount previously sold Blount Servitude to Cannisnia on June 28, 1996. He kept half of the “oil, gas and other liquid and gaseous hydrocarbon minerals, together with all rights of ingress and egress necessary and convenient to explore for, produce, save and transport said minerals,” according to the lawsuit. The prescription for the mineral servitude was good for 10 years, beginning on June 28, 1996.
Nearly 20 years later, Cannisnia issued a notice to Blount Farms, informing it that the mineral servitude ran out and asked the farm company to provide proof of the expiration of service on June 28, 2006. Blount Farms didn’t follow the request, so Cannisnia sued, stating that a well drilled by Blount Company wasn’t done in good faith.