Source: https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F2/652/503/56374/
Timestamp: 2020-08-15 10:09:48
Document Index: 671007436

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 3301', '§ 3301', 'art. 1946', 'art. 1957', '§ 7', '§ 2', '§ 2', '§ 601', '§ 3431', '§ 601', '§ 601', '§ 601', '§ 601', '§ 2', '§ 1', '§ 717']

Columbia Gas Transmission Corporation, a Corporation,plaintiff-appellant, v. Allied Chemical Corporation, a Corporation, Acting by Andthrough Its "union Texas Petroleum Division," Etal., Defendants-appellees, 652 F.2d 503 (5th Cir. 1981) :: Justia
Justia › US Law › Case Law › Federal Courts › Courts of Appeals › Fifth Circuit › 1981 › Columbia Gas Transmission Corporation, a Corporation,plaintiff-appellant, v. Allied Chemical Corpora...
Columbia Gas Transmission Corporation, a Corporation,plaintiff-appellant, v. Allied Chemical Corporation, a Corporation, Acting by Andthrough Its "union Texas Petroleum Division," Etal., Defendants-appellees, 652 F.2d 503 (5th Cir. 1981)
US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit - 652 F.2d 503 (5th Cir. 1981) Aug. 4, 1981
Columbia Gas Transmission Corporation sought injunctive relief and damages for alleged wrongful diversion of natural gas from reserves claimed to have been "dedicated" to its interstate pipeline system, by virtue of two gas purchase contracts between Columbia and certain predecessor producer-lessees, and by virtue of the commencement of deliveries of gas to Columbia pursuant to certificates of public convenience and necessity issued by the Federal Power Commission (FPC), now the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), to the predecessor producer-lessees. Columbia appeals from the district court's entry of judgment in favor of all defendants. 470 F. Supp. 532 & 552 (E.D. La. 1979). This Court affirms in part, reverses in part, and vacates and remands in part with instructions to the district court to refer a specified portion of this case to FERC.
The district court granted Pennzoil's motion for summary judgment, which Columbia did not oppose and does not appeal. Mid-Continent and the Moffett Group also moved for summary judgment, which was granted in favor of those defendants on the contract claims and from which Columbia does appeal. The case proceeded to trial on the alleged violation of the NGA. Subsequent to the trial, and after the parties post-trial memoranda had already been filed and the case taken under submission, the Supreme Court decided the case of California v. Southland Royalty Co., 436 U.S. 519, 98 S. Ct. 1955, 56 L. Ed. 2d 505 (1978) (4-3 decision). Shortly thereafter, Congress enacted the Natural Gas Policy Act of 1978 (NGPA), 15 U.S.C.A. §§ 3301-3432. Section 2(18) (B) (iii) of the NGPA, id. § 3301(18) (B) (iii), provides an exclusion from the definition of gas "committed or dedicated to interstate commerce." This exclusion limits the prospective application of the Southland decision without reversing it on its facts. Supplemental briefs were filed with regard to the Southland decision and the NGPA.
Both the Moffett Group and Mid-Continent failed to give Columbia notice of their intention to surrender to the Wylie Heirs their interest in the leaseholds on both sections. These defendants claim that they are exonerated from any liability, by reason of inadvertence in failing to notify Columbia, because they had not read and therefore were unaware of the notice of surrender provisions in the contracts. Columbia responds that the defendants' conduct does not come within the legal definition of inadvertence unless that conduct is excusable inadvertence, and not mere negligence. Columbia relies on Fed.R.Civ.Pro. 60(b) (1), which allows a party or his legal representative relief from a final judgment upon a showing of mistake, inadvertence, surprise, or excusable neglect; some courts construing this rule have held that while the word "excusable" does not directly modify "inadvertence," the inadvertence must nevertheless be excusable before relief will be granted. See, e. g., Ledwith v. Storkan, 2 F.R.D. 539, 544 (D. Neb. 1942). See also Bershad v. McDonough, 469 F.2d 1333, 1337 (7th Cir. 1972) (neither ignorance nor carelessness is relievable as inadvertence).
The district court rejected Columbia's argument. "The proper analysis of the inadvertence issue does not begin by adopting a technical definition of inadvertence utilized by courts to narrow (relief under a procedural rule, but instead the court) must attempt to determine what the parties to the contract intended when they included the inadvertence clause." 470 F. Supp. at 554. Since the law to be applied in interpreting this contract is the law of Louisiana, the district court properly looked to La.Civ.Code Ann. art. 1946, which provides: "The words of a contract are to be understood, like those of a law, in a common and usual signification, without attending so much to grammatical rules, as to general and popular use." To decide the common and usual signification of the word "inadvertence," the district court turned to a dictionary definition: "not attentive or observant; negligent; heedless" and "due to oversight; unintentional." On this basis the district court concluded that conduct is inadvertently done if done unintentionally, though negligently; the inadvertence therefore need not be excusable. 470 F. Supp. at 554-55. "To judicially write 'excusable' into the contract would be to supply a qualifying word to a contract that the parties did not choose to add themselves." Id. at 555.
This Court and the parties in this litigation are unable to find any Louisiana case law involving an inadvertence provision such as this. Guided by the only Louisiana law available, the district court concluded that inadvertence included unintentional, though negligent, conduct. This conclusion was proper in light of the well-established principle that ambiguous phrases in contracts are to be construed against the party who prepared the contract. See, e. g., Kuhn v. Stan A. Plauche Real Estate Co., 249 La. 85, 185 So. 2d 210, 213 (1966); Rayford v. Louisiana Savings Association, 380 So. 2d 1232, 1238 (La.App.), writ denied, 384 So. 2d 793 (La.1980); La.Civ.Code Ann. art. 1957 & 1958. Had the author intended the term "inadvertence" to carry some meaning other than its common and usual meaning, it should have provided its own definition in the contract, rather than leave interpretation of the term open to construction based on the dictionary definition. Finding no fault with the reasoning of the district court, and concluding that the district court's findings of fact are not clearly erroneous, this Court affirms the district court's grant of summary judgment on the breach of contract claims.1
One of the most controversial decisions concerning the scope of the dedication obligation is California v. Southland Royalty Co., 436 U.S. 519, 98 S. Ct. 1955, 56 L. Ed. 2d 505 (1978) (4-3 decision). In that case, a producer acquired a fifty-year oil and gas lease, entered into a gas purchase contract with an interstate pipeline, obtained a certificate from the FPC, and initiated deliveries of gas. When the lease expired, the producer-lessee's interest in the remaining reserves reverted to the owners of the reversionary mineral interest. The reversioner contracted to sell its share of production to an intrastate pipeline, but the FPC held that the previous interstate sales dedicated all the gas covered by the original lease, including the gas remaining at the termination of the lease, and therefore the gas could not be diverted to the intrastate market without Commission abandonment authorization. On appeal, the Fifth Circuit held that under Texas property law the producer-lessee could not dedicate the portion that the reversioners would own upon termination of the lease. Southland Royalty Co. v. FPC, 543 F.2d 1134 (5th Cir. 1976). The Supreme Court reversed. It held that the earlier dedication covered all the natural gas reserves beneath the tract, and that diversion of the gas had to be authorized by the Commission. The majority relied on two alternative rationales to hold that the reversioners' interest remained dedicated. 436 U.S. at 525-31, 98 S. Ct. at 1958-61. The first rationale is the successor in interest doctrine: if a lessee initiated an interstate sale pursuant to a certificate, all subsequent owners of the mineral rights, including leasehold reversioners, are bound by the dedication obligation of the original lessee as successors in interest to the working interest of the dedicating lessee. Alternatively, because the gas continued to flow in interstate commerce at the termination of the lease, that flow constituted a service that the reversioner can withdraw only with Commission approval.
The district court held that the Moffett Group and Mid-Continent were not required to seek FPC approval prior to release of the leaseholds and thus were not in violation of the NGA. The court, in reliance on language in the Southland decision, distinguished between conduct constituting an abandonment and conduct that would only shift responsibility for carrying out services dedicated to interstate commerce.3 The district court accordingly concluded that by their contractual arrangements the Moffett Group and Mid-Continent only shifted control of dedicated facilities, and thereby the obligation to continue the dedicated service, to the Wylie Heirs. The district court further found that because the Moffett Group and Mid-Continent released their interest in the deep gas in an effort to compromise the lease cancellation suit, their sole interest in making the release was to protect their leasehold interest in the reserves above 10,600 feet subsea and not to divert the dedicated reserves to intrastate commerce. 470 F. Supp. at 547.
The Commission also argues that the surrender of the lower depths withdrew a portion of the dedicated area from the certificate without Commission approval. Again, the surrender did not withdraw the gas from the dedication obligation, but merely shifted the obligation to another party. Abandonment within the meaning of NGA § 7 is an act that permanently reduces a significant portion of a particular service dedicated to interstate markets. Reynolds Metal Co. v. FPC, 534 F.2d 379, 384 (D.C. Cir. 1976). As long as the surrender by the Moffett Group and Mid-Continent was not taken for the purpose of terminating the service obligation without the Commission's approval, their surrender did not permanently reduce a significant portion of service. This Court concludes that the district court's findings that there was no understanding on the part of the Moffett Group and Mid-Continent that the release of their leasehold interests was for the purpose of terminating the service obligation, and that the surrender was undertaken solely to compromise the lease cancellation suit, are not clearly erroneous.4 The surrender was therefore not an act of abandonment, even though it may have been a necessary step before the Wylie Heirs, Toce, and the Allied Chemical Group could effectuate an abandonment, but instead simply shifted responsibility for honoring the dedication obligation to those who later did fail in that obligation.
The Wylie Heirs and Toce argue that the Southland decision should be limited to its facts, and thus argue that they did not wrongfully divert the gas from interstate commerce in violation of the NGA since the gas was not dedicated. More specifically, they argue that the Southland decision should be limited to the alternative flowing gas rationale of the Court's opinion. This Court rejects such an attempt to limit the Southland decision. In United Gas Pipe Line Co. v. McCombs, 442 U.S. 529, 99 S. Ct. 2461, 61 L. Ed. 2d 54 (1979), the Court held that the requirement to sell dedicated gas into interstate commerce continued even after the interstate pipeline had abandoned its facilities for receipt of the gas and even though the well at issue had not produced for several years. Therefore, the Supreme Court has indicated that it will not limit the Southland decision to the flowing gas rationale. This Court has also indicated that it will not limit the Southland decision. See Texas Oil & Gas Corp. v. Valley Gas Transmission, Inc., 608 F.2d 231 (5th Cir. 1979).
The Wylie Heirs and Toce also argue, relying on the so-called "Southland exclusion" in NGPA § 2(18) (B) (iii), that the NGPA authorizes further judicial limitations on the Southland decision. Although the Southland exclusion does modify the continued application of the Southland decision, it also has the effect of making the Southland decision, as modified, "a permanent part of the natural gas regulatory landscape." Note, The Meaning of the Southland Exclusion Complexity and Ambiguity in the Natural Gas Policy Act, 58 Texas L.Rev. 435, 459, 461 (1980). This Court is not willing to go beyond the limitations on the Southland decision already placed on it by Congress. This brings us to the next major issue in this case: the effect and impact of the NGPA's Southland exclusion on the liability of the Wylie Heirs, Toce, and the Allied Chemical Group for having violated the NGA.
NGPA § 2(18) (A) (ii) provides that the term "committed or dedicated to interstate commerce" means "natural gas which, if sold, would be required to be sold in interstate commerce (within the meaning of the Natural Gas Act) under the terms of any contract, any certificate under the Natural Gas Act, or any provision of such Act." Since the deep gas remained dedicated under the NGA, it is within the NGPA definition of "committed or dedicated," unless it qualifies for exclusion from the NGPA definition. Section 2(18) (B) (iii), also known as the "Southland exclusion," provides that the term "committed or dedicated to interstate commerce" does not apply with respect to
natural gas which, but for this clause, would be committed or dedicated to interstate commerce under subparagraph (A) (ii) by reason of the action of any person (including any successor in interest thereof, other than by means of any reversion of a leasehold interest), if on May 31, 1978
The district court applied the Southland exclusion and found that the deep gas met the tests necessary to qualify for that exclusion from the NGPA definition of "committed or dedicated." 470 F. Supp. at 548-50. The voluntary surrender of the original leases occurred in 1973. On the assumption that the voluntary surrender constituted a reversion, the Southland exclusion's requirement that a reversion occur prior to May 31, 1978, was met. On May 31, 1978, the subsequent grantee (Allied Chemical) of the reversioners (the Wylie Heirs) held the right to produce, explore, develop, and sell the deep gas. Therefore, as required by the Southland exclusion, neither the dedicator, the dedicator's affiliates, nor the successors in interest of the dedicator prior to the reversion, had those rights on May 31, 1978.7 Finally, since the deep gas was being sold in intrastate commerce, the deep gas was not flowing in interstate commerce on May 31, 1978, as further required by the Southland exclusion.8 Columbia, however, contests some crucial express assumptions made by the district court in arriving at its conclusion.
124 Cong.Rec. H13116 (daily ed. Oct. 14, 1978) (emphasis added). In reliance on Representative Dingell's statement, the district court correctly held that the voluntary surrender in settlement of litigation constituted a "reversion." In addition to Representative Dingell's statement, the Conference Committee Report to the NGPA states that the term "successor in interest" in the Southland exclusion does not include "any interest owner who acquires his right pursuant to the reversion or any other termination of a natural gas leasehold interest." H.R.Rep.No. 1752, supra, at 71, U.S.Code Cong. & Admin.News 1978, p. 8988 (emphasis added). A statutory provision must be read in light of the central purpose of the statute, as derived from its legislative history and the circumstances surrounding its enactment. Johansen v. United States, 343 U.S. 427, 431, 72 S. Ct. 849, 852, 96 L. Ed. 1051 (1952); Note, Legislative History of the Natural Gas Policy Act: Title I, 59 Texas L.Rev. 101 (1980). This Court is compelled to conclude, in light of the foregoing legislative history and the exclusion's remedial purpose in limiting the Southland decision, that the term "reversion" should be broadly construed to encompass various forms of relinquishing a leasehold interest, including voluntary surrender. See Note, The Meaning of the Southland Exclusion at 453-54. We affirm the district court's holding in this regard.
Columbia also argued that the two different levels of gas reserves could not be separated from each other, and since the gas above 10,600 feet was flowing in interstate commerce on May 31, 1978, the requirement of the exclusion in this regard was not met. The district court rejected this argument because "a partial release of gas rights is authorized, and it is the released gas which must be flowing on May 31, 1978, to defeat exclusion." 470 F. Supp. at 550 (emphasis in original). This Court finds this reasoning accurate and precise as a matter of statutory interpretation. Since the statute authorizes partial reversions, then it does not matter that the partial reversion of the leasehold is defined according to depth rather than specified surface acreage.10 See Note, The Meaning of the Southland Exclusion at 453-54. Since the statute provides that the gas covered by the reversion must not be flowing in interstate commerce on May 31, 1978, the deep gas properly qualifies for the Southland exclusion even though the shallow gas was flowing in interstate commerce on that date.11
Columbia argued that even if the deep gas does qualify for the Southland exclusion, under the Southland decision it is entitled to receive a payback of all gas wrongfully diverted up until December 1, 1978, because that date is when the protection of the exclusion becomes effective. Columbia pointed to NGPA § 601(a) (1) (A), 15 U.S.C.A. § 3431(a) (1) (A), which provides:
With regard to the district court's initial view that the Southland exclusion is effective on May 31, 1978, this Court has previously stated that gas qualifying for the Southland exclusion is removed from NGA jurisdiction on December 1, 1978, by NGPA § 601(a) (1) (a). Columbia Gas Development Corp. v. FERC, 651 F.2d 1146, 1157 n.14 (5th Cir. 1981); Falcon Petroleum v. FERC, 642 F.2d 780, 784-85 (5th Cir. 1981). The district court's interpretation suffers from the assumption that section 2(18) (B) (iii) is an exclusion from NGA dedication, with the only question being one of effective date. The exclusion, however, is an exclusion from the NGPA's definition of "committed or dedicated" for purposes of applying the operative NGPA provisions, one of which, in addition to wellhead pricing and price deregulation, is selective repeal of NGA jurisdiction (and thus dedication requirements) by NGPA § 601(a) (1).12 Note, The Meaning of the Southland Exclusion at 456. The May 31, 1978, keying date is merely a condition to qualifying for the definitional exclusion. Id. The gas interest of a reversioner or subsequent grantee of a reversioner that qualifies under the Southland exclusion remains dedicated under the NGA until removed from NGA jurisdiction on December 1, 1978, because the exclusion deems that gas to be not "committed or dedicated" on November 8, 1978, for purposes of applying NGPA § 601 (a) (1) (a). See Falcon, 642 F.2d at 784-85. The reversioner or his subsequent grantee would, however, remain in violation of the NGA for any unauthorized Southland -type diversions or abandonments of gas prior to December 1, 1978. Note, The Meaning of the Southland Exlcusion at 456. Therefore, since FERC still has NGA jurisdiction until December 1, 1978, over gas that qualifies for exclusion from the NGPA definition of "committed or dedicated," it still possesses enforcement authority for violations of the NGA with respect to that gas that occurred prior to December 1, 1978.
Accordingly, this Court holds that the Wylie Heirs, Toce, and the Allied Chemical Group have violated the Natural Gas Act for wrongful diversions prior to December 1, 1978. Sales of the deep gas into the intrastate market on or after December 1, 1978, are no longer in violation of the NGA pursuant to NGPA § 601(a) (1) (A). This brings us to the final issue of whether Columbia is entitled to a payback of the gas wrongfully diverted prior to December 1, 1978.
This Court affirms the judgment of the district court with respect to the breach of contract claims. We also uphold the district court's conclusion that the Moffett Group and Mid-Continent did not violate the NGA, and that the Wylie Heirs, Toce, and the Allied Chemical Group did violate the NGA through the wrongful diversion of dedicated gas. This Court further upholds the district court's conclusion that the deep gas qualified for the Southland exclusion, NGPA § 2(18) (B) (iii). This Court vacates the district court's conclusion that, while the Wylie Heirs, Toce, and the Allied Chemical Group violated the NGA, they are exonerated from liability for that violation because of Representative Dingell's statement regarding enforcement for past Southland -type violations. We hold that qualifying for the Southland exclusion removes the gas from NGA jurisdiction on December 1, 1978, and therefore the NGA is violated with respect to diversions prior to that date. This Court vacates the district court judgment with regard to the payback obligation issue, and remands the case to the district court with instructions to refer to the Commission the determination of whether a payback obligation should be imposed on the Wylie Heirs, Toce, and the Allied Chemical Group.
Columbia additionally argues on appeal that the Moffett Group and Mid-Continent are presumed to have read and understood the contents of the contracts. See, e. g., Hicks v. Ocean Drilling & Exploration Co., 512 F.2d 817, 825-26 (5th Cir. 1975), cert. denied, 423 U.S. 1050, 96 S. Ct. 777, 46 L. Ed. 2d 639 (1976), quoting St. Landry Loan Co. v. Avie, 147 So. 2d 725, 727 (La.App.1962); LeNy v. Friedman, 372 So. 2d 721, 723 (La.App.), writ denied, 375 So. 2d 943 (La.1979). The presumption that the Moffett Group and Mid-Continent were aware of the notice of surrender provisions is of no aid to Columbia in this case. This presumption goes to the validity of the contract. See Hicks, 512 F.2d at 825; St. Landry, 147 So. 2d at 727. Even if this presumption were relevant here, the express inadvertence exception controls over the presumption of law
More specifically, the district court determined that the sellers and buyer under the gas purchase contracts intended to dedicate all reserves underlying both sections, whether developed or not, and that the FPC certificate was of unlimited duration with regard to the dedication of those reserves. 470 F. Supp. at 542-44. It then held that the original lessees had the power to place all reserves underlying the leaseholds within the jurisdiction of the Commission, even though the lessees may not have technically owned such reserves, because, as taught by the Southland decision, the concept of dedication describes a regulatory status and not a transfer of the gas. 470 F. Supp. at 544. The district court next rejected, in reliance on Mitchell Energy Corp. v. FPC, 533 F.2d 258 (5th Cir. 1976), the argument that the reserves fell within the "production or gathering of natural gas" exemption in NGA § 1(b), 15 U.S.C.A. § 717(b). 470 F. Supp. at 544-45. The district court additionally rejected, also in reliance on Southland, the argument that the seller-lessee under a gas purchase contract cannot dedicate a greater right to the leasehold gas than the lessee itself has under its lease agreement with the landowners, so that the dedication to interstate commerce was alleged to terminate at the same time that the seller-lessee's rights under the lease agreement ended. 470 F. Supp. at 546-47. Similarly, the district court rejected the Wylie Heirs' argument that they should not be viewed as natural gas companies, again in reliance on the Southland decision; the dedication is not the dedication of an individual party or producer, but the dedication of gas. Id. at 547
470 F. Supp. at 547. The language in Southland relied on by the district court is that "(p)rivate contractual arrangements might shift control of the facilities and thereby determine who is obligated to provide that service, but the parties may not simply agree to terminate the service obligation without the Commission's permission." 436 U.S. at 527, 98 S. Ct. at 1959 (emphasis in original)
This particular issue whether shifting control of dedicated service is an act of abandonment was not directly addressed by the Supreme Court in Southland. FERC, in an attempt to support its argument that a surrender of a leasehold requires prior Commission approval, points to the orders reviewed in Southland as requiring approval prior to the lease reversion there. This reliance is misplaced, however. The Supreme Court only noted, in its statement of the case, that FERC also ordered the dedicator-lessee to seek abandonment permission. 436 U.S. at 522-23, 98 S. Ct. at 1957. The Supreme Court did not pass on that holding in its reasoning, nor did the Fifth Circuit discuss that portion of the Commission's order when it reversed the Commission. In the face of this silence, this Court views the Supreme Court's language suggesting a distinction between abandonment and the shifting of control over dedicated service as controlling
The term "that person" in subclause I refers to the dedicator and his successors in interest prior to the reversion, but not the reversioner or his successors in interest, that is, his subsequent grantees. See Falcon Petroleum v. FERC, 642 F.2d 780, 784 (5th Cir. 1981); H.R.Rep.No. 1752, supra, at 71; 124 Cong.Rec. H13116 (daily ed. Oct. 14, 1978) (statement of Rep. Dingell); Note, The Meaning of the Southland Exclusion at 445-49. The district court implicitly arrived at such a reading. 470 F. Supp. at 548-49
A partial reversion defined according to an undivided percentage or undivided fractional share in the leasehold would not be able to meet the exclusion's "being sold" test in subclause II. The gas attributable to that interest cannot be separately identified; in other words, the interest is a share in all the gas under the leasehold, and therefore some of the reverted gas would be sold with the other gas. See California v. Lo-Vaca Gathering Co., 379 U.S. 366, 85 S. Ct. 486, 13 L. Ed. 2d 357 (1965) (physical, molecular commingling of jurisdictional and nonjurisdictional gas will impose Commission jurisdiction over the otherwise nonjurisdictional gas). Subclause II of the exclusion modifies the term "being sold" with the parenthetical qualification "within the meaning of the Natural Gas Act." The "being sold" test thus adopts prior NGA case law, Note, The Meaning of the Southland Exclusion at 452, including the "commingling doctrine" of Lo-Vaca
This interpretation is consistent with the ability of a producer to split his interest and dedicate only half to interstate commerce. See El Paso Natural Gas Co., FPC Opinion No. 737-A, 54 F.P.C. 917, 918 (1975), rev'd sub nom. Southland Royalty Co. v. FPC, 543 F.2d 1134 (5th Cir. 1976), rev'd sub nom. California v. Southland Royalty Co., 436 U.S. 519, 98 S. Ct. 1955, 56 L. Ed. 2d 505 (1978) (4-3 decision). There is accordingly no inconsistency in the Allied Chemical Group being a subsequent grantee of the reversioner, and thus free of the original dedication with regard to the deep gas lease reserves, and being a successor in interest to the original dedication with respect to the shallow gas lease reserves, which it has an interest in pursuant to a farmout from the Moffett Group
The doctrine of primary jurisdiction promotes proper relationships between the courts and administrative agencies. Nader v. Allegheny Airlines, Inc., 426 U.S. 290, 303, 96 S. Ct. 1978, 1986, 48 L. Ed. 2d 643 (1976). It is a discretionary tool of the courts, a flexible concept to integrate the regulatory functions of agencies into the judicial decision making process by having agencies pass in the first instance on technical questions of fact uniquely within the agency's expertise and experience, or in cases whose referral is necessary to secure uniformity and consistency in the regulation of business, such as issues requiring the exercise of administrative discretion. Nader, 426 U.S. at 303-04, 96 S. Ct. at 1986-87; Far East Conference v. United States, 342 U.S. 570, 574-75, 72 S. Ct. 492, 494, 96 L. Ed. 576 (1952); Mississippi Power & Light Co. v. United Gas Pipe Line Co., 532 F.2d 412, 417 (5th Cir. 1976), cert. denied, 429 U.S. 1094, 97 S. Ct. 1109, 51 L. Ed. 2d 541 (1977)
In this case, the district court's determination on remand with regard to enforcement of a payback obligation for diversions prior to December 1, 1978, will be materially facilitated by FERC's informed evaluation of the meaning of Representative Dingell's enforcement caution and how the facts of this case fit within that caution. See Nader, 426 U.S. at 305, 96 S. Ct. at 1987; Ricci v. Chicago Mercantile Exchange, 409 U.S. 289, 305, 93 S. Ct. 573, 582, 34 L. Ed. 2d 525 (1973). Considerations of uniformity and technical expertise in the exercise of enforcement discretion make such a referral particularly appropriate in that it permits FERC to develop standards, either on a case-by-case basis or generically, governing enforcement of Southland -type diversions in light of the policies of the NGPA and Representative Dingell's enforcement policy caution.
Referral of only the question of enforcement with regard to diversions prior to December 1, 1978, is most appropriate in this case. "No fixed formula exists for applying the doctrine of primary jurisdiction. In every case the question is whether the reasons for the existence of the doctrine are present and whether the purposes it serves will be aided by its application in the particular litigation." United States v. Western Pacific Railroad, 352 U.S. 59, 64, 77 S. Ct. 161, 165, 1 L. Ed. 2d 126 (1956). The underlying policies of the doctrine would not be served by its application to all of the regulatory questions in this case
It is well established that courts need not refer an issue to an agency when the issue is strictly a legal one, involving neither the agency's particular expertise nor its fact finding prowess; the standards to be applied in resolving the issue are within the conventional competence of the courts and the judgment of a technically expert body is not likely to be helpful in the application of these standards to the facts of the case. Nader, 426 U.S. at 305-06, 96 S. Ct. at 1987-88; Board of Education of the City School District of the City of New York v. Harris, 622 F.2d 599, 607 (2d Cir. 1979), cert. denied, 449 U.S. 1124, 101 S. Ct. 940, 67 L. Ed. 2d 110 (1981). Furthermore, the