Pleading Jurisdictional Facts Under Section 25A.004(d)(1): Business Court Denies Plea to the Jurisdiction in Oil and Gas Reciprocal Waiver Dispute

In Slant Operating v. Octane Energy Operating, Judge Bullard denied Octane's plea to the jurisdiction, holding that Slant sufficiently pleaded that a reciprocal waiver agreement concerning off-lease drilling permits constituted a qualified transaction under Texas Government Code § 25A.004(d)(1) and that Octane failed to refute the existence of jurisdictional facts. The opinion clarifies the burden-shifting framework when a defendant challenges both pleading sufficiency and the existence of jurisdictional facts in the Business Court.