Court Opinion

ID: 9641511
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 17:33:37.332202+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:10:37.960174
License: Public Domain

MURRAH, Circuit Judge
(concurring).
While agreeing that the judgment of the trial court must be reversed on both causes of action, I cannot agree that Dr. Wheeler’s testimony, upon which it is based, is wholly incompetent and without probative value. Particularly, I cannot agree that his testimony concerning imprudent development is based upon the so-called unitization formula. The witness specifically stated that the unitization formula was utilized only as a measure of damages, and the trial court pointedly observed that it would not consider it in determining whether, as a prudent operator, Stanolind should have drilled the protective offset wells; that the formula was relevant and would be considered only for the purpose of estimating the amount of recoverable oil under the lease as a measure of damages for the breach of the implied covenant to drill.
If I read the majority opinion aright, it assumes the premise that the trial court’s judgment is based upon the application of the unitization formula in the determination of the critical question of prudent development. My concurrence in the reversal is based squarely upon the premise that when Dr. Wheeler’s testimony concerning whether Stanolind should have drilled the offset wells is considered in the light of the physical facts and judged by the Oklahoma prudent operator rule, well stated in the opinion, it is insufficient to support a finding of bad faith as a basis for a legal conclusion of imprudent development. This being so, it becomes unnecessary to consider whether the unitization formula could form the proper basis for estimating the amount of recoverable oil underlying the lease as a measure of damages for wrongful failure to develop.