pjc-oil-and-gas-2022-lib

INTRODUCTION 1. P URPOSE OF P UBLICATION

The purpose of this volume, like those of the others in this series, is to assist the bench and bar in preparing the court’s charge in jury cases. It provides definitions, instructions, and questions needed to submit jury charges in the following cases: • adverse possession • improper use of real property • issues between the lessor and lessee • executive rights; and • contracts between working interest owners. It also contains questions and comments pertaining to defenses to the above actions and sections on damages and preservation of charge error. The pattern charges are suggestions and guides to be used by a trial court if they are applicable and proper in a specific case. The Committee hopes that this volume will prove as worthy as have the earlier Texas Pattern Jury Charges volumes. 2. S COPE OF P ATTERN C HARGES The infinite combinations of possible facts in oil and gas cases make it impracticable for the Committee to offer questions suitable for every occasion. The Committee has tried to prepare charges to serve as guides for the usual litigation encountered in these types of cases. However, a charge should conform to the pleadings and evidence of a case, and occasions will arise for the use of questions and instructions not specifically addressed here. 3. U SE OF A CCEPTED P RECEDENTS Like its predecessors, this Committee has avoided recommending changes in the law and has based this material on what it perceives the present law to be. It has attempted to foresee theories and objections that might be made in a variety of circumstances but not to express favor or disfavor for particular positions. In unsettled areas, the Committee generally has not taken a position on the exact form of a charge. However, it has pro vided guidelines in some areas in which there is no definitive authority. Of course, trial judges and attorneys should recognize that these recommendations may be affected by future appellate decisions and statutory changes. 4. P RINCIPLES OF S TYLE a. Preference for broad-form questions. Tex. R. Civ. P. 277 provides that “the court shall, whenever feasible, submit the cause upon broad-form questions.” Accord ingly, the basic questions are designed to be accompanied by one or more instructions.

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