Texas Supreme Court Carves Out Unjust Enrichment Exception to Division Order Estoppel Rule

The Texas Supreme Court held that division orders are not binding until revoked where the operator both prepared erroneous orders understating royalty interests and retained the underpaid proceeds, carving out an exception to the general estoppel rule based on unjust enrichment. The Court reversed summary judgment for Strata Energy after it underpaid the Gavenda family by 7/16th royalty—paying only 1/16th instead of the reserved 1/2 non-participating royalty interest—and retained at least part of the underpayment for itself.