LOLA Energy Holdings II, LLC v. RD Heritage Group, LLC, No. 01-23-00830-CV, 2026 WL 1825837 (Tex. App.—Houston [1st Dist.] June 25, 2026, no pet.)

Beck Redden recently secured the complete dismissal of all claims against seven nonresident defendants—six corporations and an individual—who had been brought into a Texas lawsuit arising from a multi-million dollar oil-and-gas acquisition dispute. The First Court of Appeals reversed the trial court’s denial of the defendants’ special appearance and rendered judgment dismissing all claims against the nonresident defendants for lack of jurisdiction.

The plaintiff, RD Heritage Group, LLC, initially sued LOLA Energy II, LLC (“LOLA2”) for an alleged breach of an oil-and-gas development agreement.  The development agreement contained a Texas forum selection clause.  The dispute concerned a significant oil-and-gas acquisition with a multi-million dollar valuation.

Eighteen months into the litigation, RD Heritage amended its petition to add the seven nonresident defendants.  The nonresident corporations are affiliated with LOLA2, and the individual is a director and indirect owner of several of the corporations.  RD Heritage alleged that LOLA2 entered into a walk away agreement assigning its rights to acquire oil-and-gas assets to one of the nonresident corporations, and it alleged that the walk away agreement deprived it of its rights in the acquisition.  RD Heritage asserted alter ego, veil piercing, reverse veil piercing, and conspiracy theories to try to bind the nonresident defendants to the development agreement’s Texas forum selection clause, even though they were not parties to that agreement.

In the trial court, the nonresident defendants filed a special appearance.  The parties then engaged in extensive jurisdictional discovery, submitted additional briefing, and supplemented their filings before the trial court denied the special appearance.  Beck Redden built a strong evidentiary record at the trial level.

On appeal, the nonresident defendants argued that no act by any appellant occurred in Texas and that all relevant acts related to the walk away agreement occurred solely out of state.  The First Court of Appeals agreed, finding that RD Heritage had failed to allege any act by a nonresident defendant occurring in Texas and that the undisputed evidence showed the alleged misconduct occurred only out of state.  On alter ego, the court held that the individual’s roles as chief executive officer, president, board manager, and in-house counsel were insufficient to establish atypical control or pierce the corporate veil.  Reaffirming the presumption of corporate separateness, the court concluded that RD Heritage had not met its burden to show that LOLA2 and the individual were alter egos, thus piercing the corporate veil, and had not met its burden to show that the individual and the other corporations were alter egos, thus reverse piercing the corporate veil.  The court therefore reversed and rendered judgment dismissing all claims against the nonresident defendants for lack of jurisdiction.

Beck Redden appellate partner Parth S. Gejji handled the case on appeal, and trial partners Troy Ford and Garrett S. Brawley handled the case in the trial court.  Jordan M. Webster of Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC served as co-counsel.