Page 32 - Gray Reed News Today

To embed, copy and paste the code into your website or blog: It has been months since you have been paid and the general contractor or the owner continues to demand that you perform extra work, perform in changed conditions or work on a compressed timeline with no promise of payment in sight.  At this point you have a decision to make.  Do you continue to perform work and submit claims for the extra work and changed conditions? Or do you suspend work or terminate the contract? Termination or ...

Overview of the Appeals Process The goal of the Appeals Office is to settle as many cases as possible within the broad guidelines of its Mission Statement: The Appeals mission is to resolve tax controversies, without litigation, on a basis which is fair and impartial to both the Government and the taxpayer and in a manner that will enhance voluntary compliance and public confidence in the integrity and efficiency of the Service. Even though much of the work of Appeals comes from examinations, i...

To embed, copy and paste the code into your website or blog: Texas lien law in some cases does not require the filing of a financing statement for priority perfection. However, as you might have learned in In re First River Energy, the Delaware Uniform Commercial Code did not recognize the priority of Texas producers’ unfiled, unperfected security interests in proceeds under Texas Business and Commerce Code Section 9.343. In contrast, Oklahoma Producers prevailed because the Oklahoma Lien Ac...

Tech your username 3 hours ago Apple Inc. will be able to retry the issue of damages in a patent infringement trial it defended against Optis Wireless Technology LLC and four affiliated companies. According to the Eastern District of Texas opinion delivered Wednesday, the jury returned the verdict after finding that Apple willfully infringed on five of Optis’s patents, but did so without the benefit of evidence explaining that the verdict must be fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory (FRAN...

To embed, copy and paste the code into your website or blog: As Humpty Dumpty would have said to Alice if he were Justice Dumpty of the Texas Supreme Court, the term means whatever the parties to an oil and gas lease say it means, neither more nor less. In The lease In a lease in Ward County, 19,570 acres from the surface to the base of the Pennsylvanian formation were “Producing Areas”. The remainder covered all depths as to 10,880 acres plus depths in the Producing Areas below the Pennsy...

To embed, copy and paste the code into your website or blog: What is the standard of care imposed by the Model Form JOA on the well operator?   Background Under a Model Form JOA, BPX as operator and Crimson and other non-operators drilled the McCarn A1H well. After a problem that prevented further drilling the parties agreed to plug and abandon the well. BPX billed Crimson for its proportionate share of drilling expenses; Crimson refused to pay. In BPX’s suit to recover Crimson’s share of ...

To embed, copy and paste the code into your website or blog: The winter storm that brought snow, freezing temperatures, power outages, frozen water lines and bursting pipes to Texas, shutting down most construction projects in the process, forced many contractors and owners to take a look that their contracts to determine who is responsible for the ensuing delays and the costs to repair any damage. Force Majeure and Excusable Delays While each contract varies, delays generally arising from unfo...

The Bipartisan Budget Act (BBA) was signed into law by President Barack Obama in 2015 and fundamentally changed the way partnerships are audited. Under the BBA, the IRS generally...

To embed, copy and paste the code into your website or blog: Jack Bux and his high school sweetheart, Diane, have been married a few years, but the pandemic has taken its toll on their relationship, and they could soon be parting ways. Going into the marriage, Jack had a number of property interests – a home with a mortgage, a retirement account and a small part of the family business – and now he’s concerned that Diane will be able to walk away with half of what he’s been building ove...

The Supreme Court of Texas has ruled that oil and gas leases under consideration in BlueStone Natural Resources II, LLC v. Walker Murray Randle, et al. did not permit deduction of postproduction costs from sales proceeds before royalties were computed, and a “free use” clause did not authorize the lessee to consume leasehold gas in off-lease operations without compensating the lessors. The takeaway … … at least that’s what they ruled in this cicumstance. The Court reiterated that reg...