Opinion ID: 2534600
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Did Cimarex's Deposit of Funds into the Court Registry Satisfy Its Obligation to Pay Under Mineral Code art. 212.22?

Text: The record shows Orange River sent written demand for payment on November 16, 2004, and Cimarex received the notice on November 18, 2004. Cimarex responded that no payments would be made because Mauboles had raised a competing claim to the royalties. On December 20, 2004, Cimarex initiated concursus. The allegedly disputed funds were deposited into the court registry on December 22, 2004. [2] La.Code Civ. Proc. art. 4658 states: After the deposit of money into the registry of the court, the plaintiff [in concursus] is relieved of all liability to all of the defendants for the money so deposited. According to Cimarex, under article 4658, the deposit of funds into the registry of the Court constitutes payment under the law and satisfies the requirements of the Mineral Code. We need not resolve this issue at the present time. Assuming the timely deposit of funds into the Court registry would comply with the requirement of article 212.21 to pay royalties, Cimarex simply missed the deadline. Mineral Code art. 212.21 requires an obligor to pay disputed funds within 30 days of receipt of written notice of a dispute. This is a strict deadline. Cimarex admits it received Orange River's demand notice on November 18th. The allegedly disputed funds were not deposited in the Court's registry until December 22nd, 34 days after Cimarex received notice. Cimarex states no good reason for its failure to file the concursus within the time limits of Mineral Code art. 212.21. Significantly, Orange River was not made a party to the original concursus proceedings. Orange River was not added to the concursus until Cimarex filed an amended petition on February 3, 2005, over ninety days after Cimarex received written notice of nonpayment. The failure to include Orange River as a party from the outset is simply inexplicable. Cimarex clearly knew Orange River had a claim on the royalties; indeed, Orange River's claim on the royalties was the only legally cognizable claim. Cimarex's addition of Orange River into the concursus was patently untimely and does not satisfy its obligations under the Mineral Code.