State v. BP America Production Co.

OPINION

BOB PEMBERTON, Justice.

This is an interlocutory appeal from a district court order denying a plea to the jurisdiction based on sovereign immunity. The underlying controversy concerns own ership of Harris County property that, while once fast land, now lies under the waters of the San Jacinto River. Claiming that this property is State-owned submerged land, the Commissioner of the General Land Office, through the School Land Board, granted oil and gas leases on the property to a third party, Etoco, Inc. Appellee BP America Production Company claims the same property under a recorded…