By Jonathan A. Hunter
In Weyerhaeuser Co. v. A. D. Hinton, No. 07-30117 (5th Cir., May 1, 2007), the Fifth Circuit upheld a decision by the Federal District Court for the Western District of Louisiana rejecting a challenge to a group of mineral servitudes created in 1971. The plaintiff landowner, Weyerhaeuser Company, asserted that a series of formal “acknowledgments” executed by its corporate predecessor to interrupt prescription were part of an attempt to create fifty-year mineral servitudes in violation of Louisiana law. In a Memorandum Ruling, the district court held that the challenged acknowledgments fully complied with Louisiana Mineral Code articles 54 and 55; accordingly, the acknowledgments interrupted prescription running against the mineral servitudes. Weyerhaeuser Co. v. A. D. Hinton, et al., No. 06-0272 (W.D. La., Dec. 29, 2006, Walter, J.). On May 1, 2007, the Fifth Circuit heard oral argument on Weyerhaeuser’s appeal. That same day, the Fifth Circuit issued its per curiam decision upholding the district court’s ruling. Click here to view the ruling.