Ritter v. Bill Barrett Corp.

¶1 Thomas T. Ritter filed this action seeking a declaratory judgment that he owns an overriding royalty interest in certain oil and gas leases. The Fifteenth Judicial District Court, Roosevelt County, granted defendant Bill Barrett Corporation’s (Barrett) motion for a judgment on the pleadings, concluding as a matter of law that Ritter has no overriding royalty interest in the subject leases. Ritter appeals.

¶2 The dispositive issue on appeal is whether an overriding royalty in favor of Ritter, which his predecessor reserved in a sublease, was extinguished when the sublease expired.

¶3 The…