Opinion ID: 3165692
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Alta's Breaches

Text: Walls next argues that the lease holds Petrohawk liable for breaches of previous assignees, specifically Alta. The lease requires that [a]ll obligations of Lease shall be binding upon assignee. Further, an assignor is only relieved of all obligations with respect to the assigned portion or portions arising subsequent to the date of assignment. Unless otherwise contracted, successive assignees are only liable for the breaches of covenants of the lease that occur during their period of tenure. 3 Summers Oil & Gas Law § 29:7 (3d ed. 2008). The language of the lease does not support Walls's argument. The lease relieved Alta of obligations arising subsequent to the date of assignment. Any obligations arising before the date of assignment remained with Alta. The unpaid royalties from Alta's tenure constitute an obligation that arose prior, not subsequent, to the date of assignment. See Black's Law Dictionary 1104 (8th ed. 2004) (defining obligation as a formal, binding agreement or acknowledgment of a liability to pay a certain amount or to do a certain thing for a particular person or set of persons; esp., -7- a duty arising by contract). Petrohawk is only liable for obligations arising subsequent to the date of assignment, and it is not liable for Alta's nonpayment of royalties.