Texas Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision in favor of our client, URI, Inc.

Lloyd Gosselink Rochelle & Townsend, P.C. (“Lloyd Gosselink”) is proud to announce that on March 23, 2018, the Texas Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision in favor of our client, URI, Inc. (“URI”).

On October 12, 2017, Lloyd Gosselink attorney, Duncan Norton, presented oral argument on the case which involved a claim by Kleberg County that URI had breached a settlement agreement related to URI’s TCEQ-issued mining permit. The County claimed that certain language in the agreement required that only one set of pre-mining baseline data, taken in 1985, could be used to determine the level at which URI would need to restore a specific well. URI used the two pre-mining data sets that were available to determine the clean-up standard for that specific well, because both were valid data that qualified under agreement terms.

The Texas Supreme Court agreed with URI’s legal interpretation, overturning both lower courts and finding that, as a matter of law, URI did not breach its settlement agreement with the County. The decision also denied Kleberg County any form of relief. The Texas Supreme Court granted review of this case because it presented contract interpretation issues that were significant to the jurisprudence of the State of Texas. The opinion delivered by Justice Guzman opens by quoting Oliver Wendell Holmes, and proceeds by offering a detailed analysis of the parol evidence rule and the use of extrinsic evidence to inform, rather than vary or contradict, the terms of an unambiguous contract.

This victory resulted from the hard work of many attorneys and staff in Lloyd Gosselink’s Air & Waste and Litigation practice groups, and it reflects the firm’s mission to provide exceptional service and maximum value to our clients.

Click here to view the complete decision.

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If you have any questions related to this announcement or other air and waste law matters, contact Duncan Norton, Chair of Lloyd Gosselink’s Air and Waste Practice Group, at 512.322.5884 or dnorton@lglawfirm.com, or Tricia (TJ) Jackson, Associate in the Air and Waste Practice Group, at 512.322.5825 or tjackson@lglawfirm.com.