LUSTRE OIL COMPANY, LLC, and EREHWON OIL & GAS, LLC, Plaintiffs and Appellants, v. ANADARKO MINERALS, INC., and A&S MINERAL DEVELOPMENT CO., LLC, Defendants and Appellees

LUSTRE OIL COMPANY, LLC, and EREHWON OIL & GAS, LLC, Plaintiffs and Appellants, v. ANADARKO MINERALS, INC., and A&S MINERAL DEVELOPMENT CO., LLC, Defendants and Appellees. Oral Argument is set for Wednesday, October 26, 2022, at 9:30 a.m. in the Courtroom of the Montana Supreme Court, Joseph P. Mazurek Justice Building, Helena, Montana. Live-streamed through the Court’s website at http://stream.vision.net/MT-JUD/ After an oil spill within the Fort Peck Indian Reservation, A&S Mineral Development Co. acquired some oil and gas leases from Anadarko Minerals, Inc., as a part of a settlement agreement. A&S is a company that was formed to develop oil and gas leases on behalf of the Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes of the Fort Peck Reservation. It is a limited liability company, wholly owned by the Tribes, chartered under Delaware law. Lustre Oil Company claims that it had acquired ownership of these leases prior to the settlement agreement and thus Anadarko could not have assigned them to A&S. Lustre sued to quiet title to those leases. However, the District Court dismissed the suit, concluding that A&S was an indispensable party to the case, but that A&S was an arm of the Tribes and therefore has sovereign immunity. On appeal, Lustre argues that A&S is not an arm of the Tribes and does not have sovereign immunity. Lustre further argues that the Tribes and A&S waived any potential sovereign immunity claims and that the District Court incorrectly concluded that A&S could not be joined as a party to Lustre’s lawsuit.