By: Seliger S.C.R. No. 68

SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, Jimmy Glen Riemer and other property owners along and adjacent to the Canadian River allege that:

(1) the patented field notes for the following surveys call for a common boundary with the Canadian River:

Sections 29, 30 and 31 in Block 47, H.&T.C.R.R. Survey, Hutchinson County, Texas

Sections 66, 67, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78 and 79 in Block 46, H.&T.C.R.R. Survey, Hutchinson County, Texas

Sections 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, and 83 in Block 46, H.&T.C.R.R. Survey, Hutchinson County, Texas

Sections 79 and 81 in Block 46, H.&T.C.R.R. Survey, Hutchinson County, Texas, and Sections 31, 32, 33, 37, 38, and 39 in Block 47, H.&T.C.R.R. Survey, Hutchinson County, Texas

Section 26, Block 47, H&TC RR Co. Survey, Hutchinson County, Texas, Abstract Number A-689

Section 25, Block 47, H&TC RR Co. Survey, Hutchinson County, Texas, Abstract Number A-107

Section 24, Block 47, H&TC RR Co. Survey, Hutchinson County, Texas, Abstract Number A-833

Section 23, Block 47, H&TC RR Co. Survey, Hutchinson County, Texas, Abstract Number A-106

Section 22, Block 47, H&TC RR Co. Survey, Hutchinson County, Texas, Abstract Number A-637

(2) although the Texas Supreme Court in Brainard v. Texas, 12 S.W.3d 6 (Tex. 1999) decided that the surveying method employed by the General Land Office of the State of Texas involved in that case was flawed and not consistent with the gradient boundary method which has been the law of the land since Oklahoma v. Texas, 260 U.S. 606, 43 S.Ct. 221, 67 L.Ed. 428 (1923), the General Land Office itself and in concert with other Texas state agencies continued to employ the methodology condemned in the Brainard case, creating confusion and uncertainty as to the location of the boundary line between those surveys and the Canadian River. As a result, there is a dispute as to the ownership of surface and minerals between the state and the riparian owners that can only be resolved by judicial action to determine and establish the boundary between the Canadian River and the riparian surveys under present conditions in a court of competent jurisdiction; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the 80th Legislature of the State of Texas, that the following are granted permission to sue the State of Texas and the General Land Office subject to Chapter 107, Civil Practice and Remedies Code, as added by Chapter 524, Acts of the 70th Legislature, Regular Session, 1987, to determine and establish the boundary line between the above described surveys and the Canadian River:

Jimmy Glen Riemer;

Richard Coon, Jr.;

June Meetze Coon Trust;

Johnson Borger Ranch Partnership;

W.R. Edwards, Jr. d/b/a W.R. Edwards, Jr. Oil and Gas; and, be it further

RESOLVED, That the Commissioner of the General Land Office be served process as provided by Subdivision (3), Subsection (a), Section 107.002, Civil Practice and Remedies Code, as added by Chapter 524, Acts of the 70th Legislature, Regular Session, 1987; and, be it further

RESOLVED, That any final judgment adjudicating the title dispute in a suit brought concerning title to boundaries of the Canadian River under this resolution shall be limited to settling the title dispute and may not authorize an award of monetary damages; and, be it further

RESOLVED, That the lawsuit herein authorized must be filed on or before the first anniversary of the final adoption of this resolution; and, be it further

RESOLVED, That any owner of property similarly situated along the Canadian River is granted permission to intervene in the lawsuit, if found by the court to be a proper party, either individually or as a representative of a class; and, be it further

RESOLVED, That any final judgment adjudicating the location of the boundaries of the Canadian River in a suit brought under this resolution shall be res judicata as to those boundaries for all purposes, subject to the rules of law applicable to future erosion or accretion.