Chesapeake Operating, Inc. v. Nabors Drilling USA, Inc.

The question before the court is a sensitive one because it compels us to choose between the law our own legislature enacted for operations in Texas oilfields and the law of a neighboring state whose legislature chose a different path for oilfield operations within its territorial boundaries. The question is a significant one not only because it tests the measure of our deference to another state’s right to make the rules within its borders, but also because it impacts some of the most valued qualities in our own civil justice system- — freedom of contract, fulfillment of justified contract…