Florida Gas Transmission Company, LLC v. Texas Brine Company, LLC

NOT DESIGNATED FOR PUBLICATION

STATE OF LOUISIANA

COURT OF APPEAL

FIRST CIRCUIT

NO. 2018 CA 0421

FLORIDA GAS TRANSMISSION COMPANY, LLC

VERSUS

TEXAS BRINE COMPANY, LLC, ET AL.

Judgment Rendered: AUG 6 5 2019

On Appeal from
The 23rd Judicial District Court,
Parish of Assumption, State of Louisiana
Trial Court No. 34316
The Honorable Thomas J. Kliebert Jr., Judge Presiding

Leopold Z. Sher Attorneys for Appellant/ Defendant,
James M. Garner Texas Brine Company, LLC
Peter L. Hilbert Jr.
Jeffrey D. Kessler
New Orleans, Louisiana

Robert Ryland Percy III
Gonzales, Louisiana

Eric J. Mayer
Houston,, Texas

Travis J. Turner
Gonzales, Louisiana

Matthew J. Randazzo III Attorneys for Appellee/Third-Party
Christopher B. Bailey Defendant,
Will Montz Browning Oil Company, Inc.
Lafayette, Louisiana

BEFORE: McDONALD, CRAIN, and LANIER, JJ.

CRAIN, J.

Texas Brine Company, LLC, appeals a summary judgment dismissing

Florida Gas Transmission Company, LLC' s claims against Browning Oil

Company, Inc. We affirm.

This is one of several lawsuits arising out of a sinkhole in Assumption

Parish that developed on or about August 3, 2012, following the collapse of a salt

mine cavern.
Florida Gas Transmission Company sued Texas Brine, among other

defendants, alleging Texas Brine' s salt mining operations caused the collapse of

the cavern and the resulting sinkhole, which damaged two of Florida Gas' s nearby

pipelines.
Florida Gas amended its petition to include claims against Browning

Oil, which from 1991 to 2001 operated a nearby oil and gas well, sometimes

referred to as the " AH 1 well."

Browning Oil moved for summary judgment, asserting Florida Gas could

not prove the essential elements of the claims against Browning Oil. The trial

court agreed and signed a judgment on August 21, 2017, granting the motion and

dismissing Florida Gas' s claims against Browning Oil with prejudice. Texas Brine

appeals.

In a related proceeding, a different panel of this court affirmed a similar

summary judgment dismissing claims filed by Pontchartrain Natural Gas System,

K/D/ S Promix, L.L.C. and Acadian Gas Pipeline System against Browning Oil.

See Pontchartrain Natural Gas System v. Texas Brine Company, LLC, 18- 0360,

2019WL2865129 ( La. App. 1 Cir. 7/ 3/ 19), So. 3d . For the reasons

provided in Pontchartrain Natural Gas System, we affirm the August 21, 2017

summary judgment. We deny Browning Oil' s motion to dismiss the appeal and

Texas Brine' s motion to stay, and grant Browning Oil' s motion to cite the

appellate record in 201.8 CA 0549. This memorandum opinion is issued in

2

accordance with Uniform Rules— Courts of Appeal, Rule 2- 16. 1B. All costs of

this appeal are assessed to Texas Brine.

MOTION TO DISMISS DENIED, MOTION TO STAY DENIED;
MOTION TO CITE APPELLATE RECORD IN 2018 CA 0549 GRANTED,
SUMMARY JUDGMENT AFFIRMED.

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