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Parties Involved:
Douglas R. Hansen
Appellant
Lori A. Hansen
Appellant
Hess Bakken Investments II, LLC
Appellee
Hess Corporation
Appellee
Pitchblack Oil, LLC
Appellant
Dustin J. Stuber
Appellant
Rocky Svihl
Not Party
Whitetail Wave LLC
Not Party
Suzanne M. Young
Appellant

Document Text:

United States Court of Appeals

For the Eighth Circuit

___________________________

No. 18-1734

___________________________

Pitchblack Oil, LLC; Dustin J. Stuber, Trustee of the Good Shepherds Royalty

Trust; Suzanne M. Young, Trustee of the Good Shepherds Royalty Trust; Douglas

R. Hansen; Lori A. Hansen

lllllllllllllllllllllPlaintiffs

v.

Hess Bakken Investments II, LLC; Hess Corporation; Rocky Svihl, Trustee of the

RGKH Mineral & Royalty Trust dated November 1, 1995; Whitetail Wave LLC

lllllllllllllllllllllDefendants

------------------------------

Hess Bakken Investments II, LLC; Hess Corporation

lllllllllllllllllllllCross Claimants - Appellees

v.

Rocky Svihl

lllllllllllllllllllllCross Defendant

Whitetail Wave LLC

lllllllllllllllllllllCross Defendant - Appellant

Appellate Case: 18-1737 Page: 1 Date Filed: 02/06/2020 Entry ID: 4878549
 ___________________________

No. 18-1737

___________________________

 Pitchblack Oil, LLC; Dustin J. Stuber, Trustee of the Good Shepherds Royalty

Trust; Suzanne M. Young, Trustee of the Good Shepherds Royalty Trust; Douglas

R. Hansen; Lori A. Hansen

lllllllllllllllllllllPlaintiffs - Appellants

v.

Hess Bakken Investments II, LLC; Hess Corporation

lllllllllllllllllllllDefendants - Appellees

Rocky Svihl, Trustee of the RGKH Mineral & Royalty Trust dated November 1,

1995; Whitetail Wave LLC

lllllllllllllllllllllDefendants

 ____________

Appeals from United States District Court

for the District of North Dakota - Bismarck

 ____________

 Submitted: October 17, 2019

Filed: February 6, 2020

____________

Before SMITH, Chief Judge, GRUENDER and BENTON, Circuit Judges. 

____________

SMITH, Chief Judge. 

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Pitchblack Oil, LLC (“Pitchblack”) and Whitetail Wave, LLC (“Whitetail”)

filed suit against Hess Bakken Investments II, LLC and Hess Corporation

(collectively “Hess”), arguing that their overriding royalty interestsin a number of oil

and gas leases (“Subject Leases”)1should continue to burden various top leases2

(“Top Leases”) that Hess acquired over the SubjectLeases. The district court3

granted

summary judgment in favor of Hess, explaining that none of the Top Leases were

extensions or renewals of the Subject Leases, and, therefore, the overriding royalty

interests did not burden the Top Leases. We affirm. 

I. Background

Between October and December 2005, Rocky Mountain Exploration, Inc.

(RME) acquired the Subject Leases covering lands in Dunn County, North Dakota,

in a partnership with the Stuber Group, which included Pitchblack and Whitetail. All

of the Subject Leases were entered into for five years, except for the Luther Lease,

which was ultimately extended to a term of five years.In addition, the Subject Leases

contained a clause, stating that the “Lessor agrees that Lessee shall not be obligated

1These included leases from Pauline Kostelnak; C. James Luther, Trustee of

TrustB pursuant to the Last Will and Testament of James H. Luther (“Luther Lease”);

George E. Schmidt and Joy R. Schmidt; James T. Wallace and Linda J. Wallace;

Edward G. and Martha E. Kudrna Mineral Trust, Gary Kudrna, Trustee; Evelyn

Miller, Vivian Buck, Violet Zinke, Shirley Roemmich, and Marlys Bertsch; Leland

D. Schmidt, Howard A. Schmidt, and Johanna Schmidt, EmrelE. Schmidt andLorene

I. Schmidt, Doris Mitchell, and Nyle Christensen; Linda Larsen Wallace, Susan

Larsen Tuhy, Sandra LarsenRibb, and Cheryl AnnLarsen Krieger (“LarsenLeases”);

and Elmo Fiebiger.

2

“A top lease is a lease granted by a landowner during the existence of a

recorded [oil and gas] lease which is to become effective if and when the existing

lease expires or is terminated.” Valentina Williston, LLC v. Gadeco, LLC, 878

N.W.2d 397, 399 (N.D. 2016) (internal quotations omitted). 

3The Honorable Daniel L. Hovland, United States DistrictJudge for the District

of North Dakota. 

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. . . to commence or continue any operations during the primary term.” See, e.g.,

Appellants’ App. at 9, ¶ 2. 

On May 15, 2006, RME granted an “Assignment of Overriding Royalty

Interests” (“Assignment”) to the Stuber Group, carving an interest out of the Subject

Leases. The Assignment explained that the overriding royalty interests would burden

“any extensions or renewals thereof [i.e. of the Subject Leases] entered into within

180 days of expiration of the applicable Lease.” Appellants’ Add. at 14. In addition,

the Assignment also stated that the “Assignor makes no warranty, express, implied

or statutory, as to any of the rights, titles or interest hereby conveyed.” Id. at 15.

During the terms of the Subject Leases, RME assigned an 80 percent interest

in the Subject Leases to Tracker Resource Exploration, NC, LLC (“Tracker”),

retaining the remaining 20 percent for itself. In 2009, Tracker assigned its interest to

TRZ Energy LLC (“TRZ”). TRZ then began acquiring Top Leases covering some of

the same lands as the Subject Leases. In addition, LoneTree Energy & Associates,

LLC (“LoneTree”) acquired some of the Top Leases and assigned them in their

entirety to TRZ in 2009. TRZ soon became a part of a subsidiary owned by Hess.

Therefore, by October 2010, through a series of purchases and assignments, Hess

owned almost all of the Subject Leases and Top Leases. 

Each Top Lease differed in some respect from the underlying Subject Lease.

All of the Top Leases had different primary terms and different royalty amounts than

the Subject Leases. Although the majority of the lessors from the Subject Leases

remained the same, a few additional successors did enter into various Top Leases.

The Top Leases also provided different consideration and contained different

provisions, such as Shut-In, Mother Hubbard, Injection of Fluids, Limitation of

Liability, Indemnification Against Environmental Damage, and Pugh Clauses. Some

of the Top Leases contained different setback requirements, and although most of the

Top Leases covered the same tracts of land as the Subject Leases, a few of the Top

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Leases actually covered different tracts of land. Finally, although the majority of the

Top Leases were entered into before the expiration of the Subject Leases, the Larsen

Top Leases were entered into after the Larsen Leases expired. 

After Hess denied that the overriding royalty interests burdened the Top

Leases, Pitchblack and Whitetail brought suit against Hess. Upon motion, the district

court granted summary judgment in favor of Hess, explaining that the Top Leases

were new and distinct leases and not extensions or renewals of the Subject Leases.

As new leases, the Top Leases were not burdened by the overriding royalty interests

of the expired Subject Leases. Pitchblack and Whitetail appeal. 

II. Discussion

On appeal, Pitchblack and Whitetail argue that the Top Leases are renewals or

extensions of the Subject Leases and, therefore, are burdened by the overriding

royalty interestsin the Subject Leases. “This courtreviews de novo the district court’s

interpretation of a contract and its grant of summary judgment.” First Dakota Nat’l

Bank v. Eco Energy, LLC, 881 F.3d 615, 617 (8th Cir. 2018). When sitting in

diversity, we apply the forum state’s substantive law, and if that state’s “[s]upreme

[c]ourt has not addressed an issue, we must predict what rule the court would adopt.”

Chew v. Am. Greetings Corp., 754 F.3d 632, 635 (8th Cir. 2014). 

A. No Fiduciary Duty

Pitchblack and Whitetail argue that Hess owed them an implied duty of fair

dealing to attempt to extend or renew the Subject Leases in order to prevent a

“washout”

4

 of their overriding royalty interests. They argue that, given this implied

duty, there is no need for there to be a special relationship between the parties.

4

“A washout is conduct by an operator designed to extinguish the overriding

royalty interest while at the same time preserving the operator’s interest.” Sawyer v.

Guthrie, 215 F. Supp. 2d 1254, 1258 n.2 (D. Wyo. 2002). 

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Further, Pitchblack andWhitetail assert that this courtshould follow Independent Gas

& Oil Producers, Inc. v. Union Oil Co., 669 F.2d 624 (10th Cir. 1982). 

In Independent Gas, the Tenth Circuit, interpreting Oklahoma law, explained

that “Oklahoma courts have ruled that a lease assignment expressly subjecting lease

extensions and renewals to an overriding royalty interest converts a new lease

procured by the assignee into a renewal of the old one to which the reserved royalty

attaches.” Id. at 627. The Tenth Circuit concluded that Oklahoma based its rule upon

implied fiduciary obligations. Id. 

In addition to Independent Gas, Pitchblack and Whitetail point to

Reynolds-Rexwinkle Oil, Inc. v. Petex, Inc., where the Supreme Court of Kansas

found that the assignor of an overriding royalty interest in a lease owed the assignee

a duty of fair dealing based on Kansas law. 1 P.3d 909, 920–21 (Kan. 2000). The

Kansas court held that the second lease on the land, which was substantially similar

to the first lease, was an extension or renewal of the original lease. Id. 

Pitchblack and Whitetail’s argument, however, is flawed. Unlike Oklahoma

and Kansas, North Dakota hasrefused to imply fiduciary obligationsinto contractual

agreements. Under North Dakota law, “[t]he existence and scope of a fiduciary duty

depends upon the language of the parties’ agreement.” Grynberg v. Dome Petroleum

Corp., 599 N.W.2d 261, 267 (N.D. 1999). For example, in Come Big or Stay Home,

LLC v. EOG Resources, Inc., a lessee attempted to impose fiduciary duties on a well

operator by asserting that they were joint venturers and cotenants. 816 N.W.2d 80,

86–87 (N.D. 2012). The Supreme Court of North Dakota declined to imply fiduciary

duties and explained that, even assuming the oil operator owed a fiduciary duty to the

lessee under one of these theories, the existence and scope of the duty would still be

set by contractual language. Id. In addition, North Dakota does not apply the implied

covenant of good faith and fair dealing to any contract other than an insurance

agreement. WFND, LLC v. Fargo Marc, LLC, 730 N.W.2d 841, 851 (N.D. 2007). 

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Based on North Dakota’sstrong precedent, we predict that North Dakota would

not imply a fiduciary duty beyond the terms of the Assignment. Here, the Assignment

did not include any fiduciary duties. In fact, the Assignment expressly rejected any

express or implied obligations, stating that the “Assignor makes no warranty, express,

implied or statutory, as to any of the rights, titles or interest hereby conveyed.”

Appellant’s Add. at 15. In addition, neither Pitchblack nor Whitetail rebutted the

district court’s assessment that neither party alleged a special relationship with Hess

or bad faith by Hess. Therefore, Hess did not owe Pitchblack or Whitetail any

fiduciary duty that would have required Hess to treat the Top Leases as extensions or

renewals. 

As a fallback argument, Pitchblack asserted at oral argument that ANR Western

Coal Development Co. v. Basin Electric Power Cooperative concluded that North

Dakota law implies a duty upon a coal lessee to develop its leases for the benefit of

an owner of overriding royalty interests in those leases. 276 F.3d 957, 964–66 (8th

Cir. 2002). Although an accurate statement of the law, we are unwilling to extend an

implied covenant of reasonable development to imply fiduciary duties into the

overriding royalties. North Dakota law places primacy on the language of the

Agreement. Notably, Olson v. Schwartz, a North Dakota case cited within ANR

Western Coal, explained that there is an implied obligation to act as a reasonably

prudent operator so long as “there is no express clause in the lease relieving the lessee

of this implied duty.” 345 N.W.2d 33, 38 (N.D. 1984). Here, the Subject Leases

expressly rejected the implied covenant of reasonable development, stating the

“Lessor agrees that Lessee shall not be obligated . . . to commence or continue any

operations during the primary term.” E.g., Appellants’ App. at 9, ¶ 2. 

Based on North Dakota law and the lack of any fiduciary duties expressed in

the Agreement, Hess did not owe Pitchblack and Whitetail any fiduciary duty to

extend or renew the Subject Leases. Therefore, Pitchblack and Whitetail’s argument

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that the Top Leases were extensions or renewals of the Subject Leases based on a

fiduciary duty fails. 

B. Materially Different Lease Terms

In the absence of a fiduciary duty, Pitchblack and Whitetail mustshow that the

Top Leases are extensions or renewals of the Subject Leases based on the terms of the

Agreement. Here, the Agreement provided that the overriding royalty would attach

to “any extensions or renewals thereof entered into within 180 days of expiration of

the applicable Lease.” Appellant’s Add. at 14. Consequently, we must examine the

meaning of “extensions or renewals” in order to determine whether the Top Leases

fall within this clause.

Under North Dakota law, when the language of a contract is unambiguous,

“[t]he parties’ intent is ascertained from the writing alone if possible.”5 Hallin v.

Inland Oil & Gas Corp., 903 N.W.2d 61, 64 (N.D. 2017). The words in a contract

should be given their ordinary meaning, “unless used by the parties in a technical

sense, or unless a special meaning is given to them by usage.” N.D. Cent. Code

§ 9-07-09. As Pitchblack and Whitetail point out, the purpose of an extension or

renewal clause, “or anti-wash provision, in a royalty assignment is to protect the

interests of the holder of an overriding royalty on the property.” Avatar Expl., Inc. v.

Chevron, USA, Inc., 933 F.2d 314, 319 (5th Cir. 1991). “These clauses are for the

purpose of extending the overriding royalty interest to new leases obtained on the

same property by the same lessee.” Id. 

5Pitchblack and Whitetail also attempt to use certain extrinsic evidence, such

as an Affidavit of Area of Mutual Interest Provision with TRZ and an

Acknowledgment of Encumbrance in a different lease by Hess, to help explain the

meaning of “extensions or renewals.” However, neither party contends that the

Agreement was ambiguous, and North Dakota law clearly states that “[w]hen an

agreement has been memorialized in a clear and unambiguous writing, extrinsic

evidence should not be considered to ascertain intent.” Hallin, 903 N.W.2d at 64. 

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A renewal is “[t]he re-creation of a legal relationship or the replacement of an

old contract with a new contract, as opposed to the mere extension of a previous

relationship or contract.” Renewal, Black’s Law Dictionary (11th ed. 2019). An

extension means “[t]he continuation of the same contract for a specified period.”

Extension, Black’s Law Dictionary (11th ed. 2019). As the district court pointed out,

both of these definitions “delineate[] a different degree of difference from the

original.” Pitchblack Oil, LLC v. Hess Bakken Invs. II, LLC, No. 1:16-cv-349, 2018

WL 1189879, at *6 (D.N.D. Mar. 7, 2018). North Dakota case law provides the

insight needed to properly characterize the leases at issue. 

Pitchblack and Whitetail argue North Dakota has already definitively decided

when a Top Lease constitutes an extension or renewal. They argue that Sandvick v.

LaCrosse held that all top leases are effectively extensions or renewals of the original

leases. See 747 N.W.2d 519 (N.D. 2008). 

Sandvick addressed whether certain parties who had jointly purchased several

oil and gas leases had by doing so entered a joint venture. Id. at 520–21. The court

concluded that the parties did create a joint venture relationship and consequently

created certain fiduciary duties.Id. at 523. In determining whether some partiesto the

joint venture breached a fiduciary duty by excluding the other partiesfrompurchasing

certain top leases, the Supreme Court of North Dakota, in dicta, explained that the top

leases were extensions of the original leases. Id. at 524. The court referenced Petex,

finding “a substantially identical top lease taken while the initial lease was still in

effect to be an extension and renewal of the initial lease.” Id. (citing Petex, 1 P.3d at

920–21). 

Sandvick, however, is distinguishable. Sandvick considered whether a

particular joint venture triggered heightened duties. It did not involve an extension

or renewal clause and did not concern overriding royalty interests. Cf. Lillibridge v.

Mesa PetroleumCo., 907 F.2d 1031, 1034 (10thCir. 1990)(distinguishing itself from

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Howell v. Coop. Refinery Ass’n, 271 P.2d 271 (Kan. 1954), because Howell

“predicated its decision upon the existence of a confidential business relationship,”

creating a fiduciary duty). Even more, Sandvick still requires that the two leases be

“substantially identical.” 747 N.W.2d at 524. Picking up on thislanguage, Pitchblack

and Whitetail argue that the only terms that matter in comparing the two leases are

the duration, the land, and the lessee/lessor names because Sandvick mentions those

terms. Id. at 523–24. Notably, however, Sandvick does not limit the comparison of

leasesto those three terms. In fact, most case law suggeststhat courtsshould compare

several other important terms as well. 

In arguing that the Top Leases are materially differentfromthe Subject Leases,

Hess relies on Lillibridge, which also involved a dispute as to whether an overriding

royalty burdened a top lease. See 907 F.2d 1031. The Tenth Circuit held that later

leases were new and distinct, not extension or renewals. Id. at 1036. It noted that the

1982 leases were materially different from the 1972 lease for the following reasons:

“[T]hree-year rather than ten-year primary term, five leases covering 160 acres each

compared to one 800-acre lease, and a landowners’royalty of three-sixteenthsinstead

of one-eighth. . . . [and] new consideration in the amount of $130,200 for the 1982

leases.” Id. at 1033. The court further explained that there was no extension or

renewal because there was no fiduciary relationship between the parties and no

allegation of fraud or collusion. Id. at 1036. 

Additionally, in Sawyer, the United States District Court for the District of

Wyoming concluded that a top lease was new and distinct because the previous lease

expired two months before the execution of the new lease, the new leases covered

only shallow gas, the leases had different acreage, the leases increased the land

royalty, the leases contained different clauses, and the leases reduced the primary

term. 215 F. Supp. 2d at 1264 n.5, 1265. And, in Sunac Petroleum Corp. v. Parkes,

the Supreme Court of Texas explained that a new lease was not an extension because

it “was executed under different circumstances, for a new consideration, upon

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different terms, and over a year after the expiration of the old lease.” 416 S.W.2d 798,

803 (Tex. 1967). 

Similar to these cases, the Subject Leases and Top Leases also contain material

differences. First, every Top Lease has a different primary term than the

corresponding Subject Lease, which Lilibridge, Sawyer, and Sunac Petroleum all

considered to be an important difference. Further, Sandvick, the case that Pitchblack

and Whitetail rely on, noted that it was important that the “leases had the same

duration.” 747 N.W.2d at 524. In addition, all of the Top Leases contained higher

royalty amounts, which both Lilibridge and Sawyer noted as an important difference.

For example, the Larsen Top Leases contained a five percent increase in royalty,

showing that the Top Leases must have been negotiated to obtain a higher royalty.

Along with increased royalties, the Top Leases also provided additional

consideration. Again, Lilibridge and Sunac Petroleum also pointed to additional

consideration as an important difference.

Some of the Top Leases also contained different lessors and different tracts of

land, and even Sandvick mentioned acreage and lessor/lessee names as important

differences. Id. In addition, because of changing ownership during the Subject

Leases’ terms, the lessee in every Top Lease changed from RME in the Subject

Leases to either LoneTree or TRZ in the Top Leases. Finally, every Top Lease

contained new clauses, such as Pugh Clauses, Mother Hubbard Clauses, or Shut-in

Provisions, providing even more evidence that the Top Leases were separate and

distinct from the Subject Leases. It is worth noting that all of the Top Leases except

one were entered into before the expiration of the Subject Leases, which is one factor

in favor of Pitchblack and Whitetail. However, the leases in Lilibridge also were

executed before the expiration of the subject leases, and the material differences of

the leases in this case outweigh the significance of the timing of the leases.

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Based on these material differences, it is apparent that the district court

correctly concluded that the Top Leases were not extensions or renewals of the

Subject Leases. Because the Top Leases were new leases, the extension or renewal

clause did not attach the overriding royalty intereststo the Top Leases. Therefore, the

Top Leases were not burdened by the overriding royalty interests. 

III. Conclusion

Accordingly, we affirm the judgment of the district court. 

______________________________

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