News
Preliminary Considerations in Condemnation Actions
In condemnation actions in Colorado, the condemning party must take great care to satisfy legal prerequisites prior to initiating suit and, in most cases, moving for immediate possession of the subject property. By statute, immediate possession will only be granted...
Drafting Oil and Gas Royalty Provisions; KISS- “Keep it Simple, Stupid!”
The KISS principle that systems perform best with simple rather than complex designscan apply in the world of legal drafting. This lesson was recently learned by lawyers who drafted a complex “work-around” to avoid a judicial interpretation of standard oil and gas...
Advisory Council on Historic Preservation Recommends Cancellation of Oil and Gas Leases in Montana
On September 21, the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP), an independent federal agency with a key advisory role in National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) § 106 “effects” determinations, recommended that long-ago issued federal oil and gas leases...
Employment Termination For Off-Duty Marijuana Use In Colorado – Is It Legal?
For Colorado employers with a zero-tolerance drug policy, employment termination for marijuana use during off-hours has been an unsettled question ever since medical marijuana first became legal in 2000. While all marijuana use—medical and recreational—is now legal in...
New Welborn “Law of the Land” Blog
Welborn Sullivan Meck & Tooley is excited to announce the roll-out of our "Law of the Land" Blog. The focus of the blog is to bring you news and information that will help you stay “one step ahead” in our rapidly changing world. Blog topics span the range of our...
Early State Challenges to the Clean Power Plan Fall Short of Stay
On August 3, 2015, the Obama Administration through the Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) announced the implementation of the Clean Power Plan (“CPP”) which has the stated purpose of “establishing guidelines for states to follow in developing plans to reduce...
Rebecca Watson selected as an Advisory Board member for the Draper Natural History Museum Buffalo Bill Center of the West.
Rebecca W. Watson was selected as a member of the Advisory Board to the Draper Natural History Museum Buffalo Bill Center of the West. The Draper Natural History Museum opened in Cody, Wyoming in 2002. The museum is designed to integrate natural sciences with the...
Welcome new attorneys John A. Masterson and Alaina M. Stedillie
Welborn is pleased to welcome two new attorneys to our Casper, Wyoming office: John A. Masterson and Alaina M. Stedillie. Read the press release here.
Employer Alert: Tenth Circuit Expands Scope of Hostile Environment Claims in Flashing Case
Last week, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals delivered new guidance as to the type of conduct that can support a hostile work environment claim in Macias v. Southwest Cheese Co.,(10th Cir. August 24, 2015) (https://www.ca10.uscourts.gov/opinions/14/14-2109.pdf)....
Gold King Mine Accident Highlights Risks Posed by Abandoned Mines
On August 5, 2015, EPA personnel were working with a private contractor on a water quality project at the Gold King Mine near Silverton, Colorado. The intent of the project was to assess ongoing mine water leakage and to identify and evaluate options for additional...
Seven Welborn shareholders listed on the Best Lawyers in America list for 2016
Welborn shareholders J. Kenneth Barbe, Hampton K. O'Neill, Kendor P. Jones, Keith D. Tooley, Edward J. Blieszner, Brian S. Tooley, and Rebecca W. Watson were listed in the Best Lawyers in America® 2016. Read the press release here.
Underground Rights are Defined in Texas
On August 19, 2015 the Fourth District Court of Appeals in San Antonio, Texas, ruled that, because the surface estate owner controls “the matrix of the underlying earth,” it could grant an oil and gas operator the right to site wells on the surface owner’s property...