Sterling Timber Associates, L.L.C. v. Union Gas Operating Co.

SAUNDERS, JUDGE

| ,This is a mineral rights case stemming from whether La. R.S. 31:76 or La. R.S. 31:77 should apply in determining ownership rights to minerals when property is sold while it is subject to a mineral servitude in favor of a third party. Here, the seller of the property reserved mineral rights it did not own at the time of the sale in the sale document. Further, the buyer of the property executed a mineral deed in favor of the seller, even though the buyer of the property also currently had no rights to the minerals due to the mineral servitude.

The trial court found that La.…