Opinions

Justice Smith delivered the opinion of the Court, joined by Chief Justice Phillips, Justice Hecht, Justice Owen, Justice Jefferson, Justice Schneider, Justice Wainwright, and Justice Brister PDF

Justice Hecht delivered a concurring opinion, joined by Justice Wainwright PDF

Court of Appeals

Appellate District:	7th Court of Appeals
Outcome Below:	Affirmed
COA Docket No.:	07-01-00263-CV
Opinion Author:	Honorable JOHN T. BOYD

Trial Court

Trial Court:	31st District Court
County:	Wheeler
Trial Judge:	Honorable Steven Ray Emmert
Trial Docket:	10,680

Date	Event	Outcome
2004-05-11	Mandate issued
2004-05-11	Case Stored
2004-05-07	Motion for Rehearing - Disposed	Denied with Justice not sitting.
2004-04-23	Miscellaneous motion disposed. See Remarks.	Filing granted
2004-04-16	Miscellaneous Motion
	This case was waiting for a decision about a pending motion for rehearing between February 17, 2004 and April 16, 2004.
2004-02-17	Case forwarded to Court
2004-02-17	Motion for Rehearing
2004-01-30	Court approved judgment sent to attorneys of record
2004-01-30	Opinion issued	Court of Appeals' judgment reversed & judgment rendered
2004-01-30	Concurring Opinion issued.	Issued
	This case was awaiting the Court's decision after oral argument between September 11, 2003 and January 30, 2004.
2003-09-11	Notice from Counsel of a change in address
	This case was awaiting the Court's decision after oral argument between February 13, 2003 and September 11, 2003.
2003-02-13	Reply to Response (Petitioner)
2003-02-12	Motion for Leave to File Post Submission disposed	Filing granted
2003-01-29	Post submission brief filed (Respondent)
2003-01-29	Motion for leave to file post submission brief
2003-01-22	Created for Data Conversion -- an event inserted to correspond to the submission date of a process
2003-01-22	Oral argument
2003-01-22	Exhibits in case/cause filed (Petitioner)
2003-01-22	Exhibits in case/cause filed (Petitioner)
2003-01-22	Created for Data Conversion -- an event inserted to correspond to the submitted date of a process
	This case was waiting for oral argument between November 5, 2002 and January 22, 2003.
2002-11-05	Electronic copies of brief posted to website
2002-10-31	Electronic copies of brief posted to website
2002-10-31	Set for Submission
2002-10-31	Electronic copies of brief posted to website
2002-10-31	Amount of time allotted for oral argument.
2002-10-24	Petition for Review disposed	Filing granted
2002-10-24	Petition for Review disposed	Filing granted
2002-09-17	Reply Brief (Petitioner)
2002-09-04	Appendix Filed (Respondent)
2002-09-04	Brief on the Merits (Respondent)
2002-07-31	Brief on the Merits (Petitioner)
2002-07-19	Record Received (See Remarks)
2002-07-17	Motion for Extension of Time disposed.	Filing granted
2002-07-12	Motion for Extension of Time to File Brief filed
2002-07-03	Brief on the Merits Requested
2002-07-03	Record Requested in Petition for Review
2002-05-31	Reply to Response (Petitioner)
2002-05-21	Case forwarded to Court
2002-05-20	Response to Petition (Respondent)
2002-04-22	Petition for Review (Petitioner)
2002-04-22	Appendix Filed (Petitioner)

Party	Counsel	Role
DEVON ENERGY CORPORATION (NEVA	Mr. J. Harrell Feldt	Petitioner
DEVON ENERGY PRODUCTION COMPAN	Mr. J. Harrell Feldt	Petitioner
KERR-MCGEE CORPORATION	Mr. S. Tom Morris	Petitioner
KERR-MCGEE NORTH AMERICAN ONSH	Mr. J. Harrell Feldt	Petitioner
HELTON, JIMMY	Mr. Robert D. Lemon	Respondent
HELTON, JIMMY ET AL.	Mr. Guy Kelly Cooksey	Respondent
HELTON, TODD	Mr. Otis C. Shearer	Respondent