Sharp, J. | March 27, 2026
Partially granting Defendants' motion for summary judgment, holding that the parties' Contracts are unambiguous with respect to the issues adjudicated in this Order, and holding as a matter of law that:
the Contracts conveyed to Defendants a vested fee simple determinable in the Leases as described in this Opinion;
no partial termination or corresponding reversion of Defendants' interest can occur until cessation of continuous drilling operations by Defendants;
the Contracts' earned-acreage provisions operate as special limitations on Defendants' property interest; and
Plaintiffs' 30% reversionary back-in interest is triggered at Payout, which occurs upon and is calculated based on cost recovery for each Earning Well under the process described in the Agreement, which aggregates all specified costs on the corresponding Earned Acreage; Payout cannot occur independently as to a nonearning well.