Carson v. Railroad Commission
Supreme Court of Texas
669 S.W.2d 315 (Tex. 1984)
After drilling a successful well on Carson's (plaintiff's) tract, which lacked pooling authority under its own lease, operator BTA proposed pooling all tracts in the proration unit on an acreage basis — a deal that would have cut Carson's royalty share by roughly two-thirds since the well happened to sit on his land — and refused to negotiate when Carson, alone among the royalty owners, rejected the offer. BTA obtained a forced pooling order from the Texas Railroad Commission (defendant), and Carson sued to vacate it; the trial court and court of appeals upheld the Commission's order, and Carson appealed.
Whether a government agency has jurisdiction to issue a forced pooling order when the operator's prior voluntary pooling offer to the royalty owner was not fair and reasonable.