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Hopewell11/1/2000
The defendant, Mobil Oil Company (Mobil), filed an application for supervisory writs following the trial court's denial of its exceptions of no cause of action and prescription. This court granted the writ application and ordered the matter briefed. We now reverse the trial court ruling and make the writ peremptory.
FACTS
On April 11, 1994, the plaintiff, Hopewell, Inc. (Hopewell), bought approximately 442 acres in Red River Parish from Mary Elizabeth Harpe Boone, Martha Cuberly Veale, William Veale as trustee for the Veale Living Trust, and Martha Harpe Muckelrath, who appear to have inherited it from an ancestor named Pugh. These defendants are referred to as the Pugh family in the briefs. The property included a 70-acre tract upon which the present dispute is based. In 1921, the Pugh family ancestors gave Fortuna Oil Company (Fortuna) the right to construct a casing head gas plant on the property. Fortuna already held a mineral lease on this tract. In 1922, the Pugh ancestors sold surface rights on the property to Fortuna. Oil and gas operations were conducted on the property by Fortuna. Magnolia Oil Company (Magnolia) later acquired the property from Fortuna. The casing head gas plant and several oil and gas wells were operated on the property. The tract was then conveyed back to the Pugh family in 1945 in settlement of a lawsuit with Magnolia. That conveyance contained the following clause:
It is specifically understood and agreed by and between the parties hereto that there shall be no obligation whatsoever on the part of [Magnolia] to remove foundations or to alter any of the conditions that exist upon any portion of that tract or property which is hereby conveyed by [Magnolia] and Magnolia Pipeline Company, which is specifically described herein this paragraph numbered `4.'
The surface rights were leased to Magnolia. The gas plant later ceased production, possibly in the 1950s. At some point, Mobil acquired Magnolia and assumed the liabilities of that company.
As stated above, Hopewell purchased a 442-acre tract, including the disputed property, from the Pugh family in 1994. On January 2, 1997, Hopewell filed a petition for damages against Mobil and the Pugh family. In its petition, the plaintiff contends that, through the oil and gas operations, hazardous and toxic wastes were deposited in the ground on the disputed 70-acre tract. However, later in the proceedings, Hopewell also seems to object to subsurface structures and other remnants of the oil and gas operation on the property. Hopewell asserts that Mobil had a duty to restore the property and that duty extended to subsequent landowners.
The Pugh family filed exceptions of prematurity, vagueness, no cause of action, and prescription. The trial court sustained the exceptions of vagueness and no cause of action. The exceptions of prescription and prematurity were overruled. Mobil asserted exceptions of res judicata, no right of action, and prescription. A rule to show cause was set on the exceptions filed by Mobil. The trial court heard argument on all the exceptions and motions. On January 11, 2000, the trial court signed a judgment denying Mobil's exceptions. Mobil filed a writ application with this court, arguing that the trial court erred in denying its exceptions of no right of action and prescription. On March 9, 2000, this court granted the writ application, ordering the trial court to lodge the record and directing counsel to file briefs.
NO RIGHT OF ACTION
Mobil alleges that the right to recover for damage to the property was personal to the owner of the property at the time the damage occurred and did not transfer with the sale to Hopewe
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