Hastings v. Selby Oil & Gas Co., 319 U.S. 348 (1943)

U.S. Supreme Court

Hastings v. Selby Oil & Gas Co., 319 U.S. 348 (1943) Hastings v. Selby Oil & Gas Co.

No. 528

Argued February 9, 1943

Reargued April 15, 1943

Decided May 24, 1943

319 U.S. 348

CERTIORARI TO THE CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT

Syllabus

Decided on the authority of Burford v. Sun Oil Co., ante, p. 319 U. S. 315.

Reversed, and ordered dismissed.

Certiorari, 317 U.S. 621, to review a judgment of the District Court enjoining the enforcement of an order of the Railroad Commission of Texas permitting two of the defendants to drill for and extract oil and gas on a small tract of land in the East Texas Oil Field.

Page 319 U. S. 349

MR. JUSTICE BLACK delivered the opinion of the Court.

This is an action in the nature of an equity proceeding brought by the respondents to cancel an order of the Texas Railroad Commission granting petitioners Hastings and Dodson a permit under Rule 37 of the Railroad Commission to drill an oil well. The Respondents contend that the order granting a permit to the petitioners deprives them of property without due process of law, and that the order is invalid as a matter of Texas law. Jurisdiction is rested on diversity of citizenship.

There are no significant differences between the problems presented here and those in Burford v. Sun Oil Co., ante, p. 319 U. S. 315. For the reasons set forth in that opinion, the decision below is reversed, and the cause is remanded with instructions to dismiss the complaint.

It is so ordered.

THE CHIEF JUSTICE, MR. JUSTICE ROBERTS, MR. JUSTICE REED, and MR. JUSTICE FRANKFURTER dissent for the reasons stated by them in dissent to Burford v. Sun Oil Co., ante,p. 319 U. S. 315.