Opinion ID: 5161
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: texas crude's breach

Text: The district court held that Texas Crude breached its operating agreements as to Hondo by withholding payments because ARCO was primarily liable for the pre-assignment liabilities. The evidence supports this conclusion. ARCO and Texas Crude continued negotiating the disputed charges subsequent to ARCO's assignment to Hondo. Also, the bills originally sent to ARCO and then passed on to Hondo for review and payment do not show any past due amount for operating expenses. Moreover, in October 1987, Texas Crude informed Hondo that so long as Hondo continued to pay its operating expenses, Texas Crude would pay Hondo its revenues from the sale of the crude oil. Texas Crude failed to advise Hondo that Texas Crude intended to satisfy the $170,755.03 owed by ARCO out of Hondo's funds. Hondo relied upon this declaration and paid its share of operating expenses. Based upon ARCO's primary liability on the debt and Texas Crude's assurances to Hondo, the quasi estoppel doctrine prohibits Texas Crude from withholding money from Hondo's revenues from the sale of the crude o il. Quasi estoppel precludes a party from asserting, to another's disadvantage, a right inconsistent with a position previously taken by him. The doctrine applies when it would be unconscionable to allow a person to maintain a position inconsistent with one in which he acquiesced, or of which he accepted a benefit. Vessels v. Anschutz Corp., 823 S.W.2d 762, 765–66 (Tex.App.—Texarkana 1992, writ denied). Texas Crude's continual negotiations with ARCO combined with its promise of revenue payments to Hondo preclude Texas Crude from withholding Hondo's revenues. The district court's decision that ARCO breached the modified operating agreements augments the efficacy of this holding. Although we affirm the district court's order to Texas Crude to remit the $170,755.03 it withheld from Hondo, Texas Crude also receives judgment for the money ARCO improperly withheld from it.