Byrom v. Pendley

ON MOTION FOR REHEARING

HILL, Chief Justice.

We grant the respondent’s motion for rehearing, withdraw the opinion and judgment of June 18, 1986, and substitute this opinion.

The question presented for review is whether C.W. Byrom, a cotenant who drilled a producing well while denying, in a pending lawsuit, the validity of cotenant Paul Pendley’s interest, is a bad-faith trespasser as a matter of law. In a bench trial, the district court answered this question negatively, and awarded Byrom recovery against Pendley for his necessary and reasonable costs of production. 1

The court of appeals…