Sutton v. SM Energy Co.

OPINION

Opinion by:

SANDEE BRYAN MARION, Justice.

SM Energy Company (“SM”), appellee and plaintiff below, filed a declaratory judgment action seeking a declaration that a 1966 oil and gas lease terminated with respect to approximately 18,000 acres of an original 40,000-acre premises; that appellants’ overriding royalty interests (“ORRIs”) carved out of assignments of the lease were extinguished; and that SM was not obligated to pay appellants royalties based on their claimed ORRIs following execution of a new lease executed on the same 18,000 acres in 2010. Appellants filed counterclaims and a…