La. R.S. » RS
Louisiana Revised Statutes & Codes

La. Rev. Stat. § 31:129 (2026)

Assignor or sublessor not relieved of obligations or liabilities unless discharged

✓ current as of May 2026
Find cases: SyfertCases citing this section LA-LEGlegis.la.gov JustiaTitle on Justia CornellLII Search CasesGoogle Scholar

§129.  Assignor or sublessor not relieved of obligations or liabilities unless discharged

An assignor or sublessor is not relieved of his obligations or liabilities under a mineral lease unless the lessor has discharged him expressly and in writing.  

Acts 1974, No. 50, §129, eff. Jan. 1, 1975.  

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 12 cases (1 in the last 5 years), 1981–2026 · leading case: Wagoner v. Chevron USA Inc., 55 So. 3d 12 (La. Ct. App. 2010).
Sort: Relevance Newest Treatment
Wagoner v. Chevron USA Inc., 55 So. 3d 12 (La. Ct. App. 2010). · cites it 6× “R.S. 31:129. A mineral lease is a real right and burden on the immovable.”
Wegman v. Cent. Transmission, Inc., 499 So. 2d 436 (La. Ct. App. 1986). · cites it 3× “The evidence presented at trial establishes that CTI failed to act in good faith for the mutual benefit of itself and the lessor as required by LSA-R.S. 31:129 and that it failed to fulfill the contractual obligations owed to plaintiffs.”
Hoover Tree Farm, L.L.C. v. Goodrich Petroleum Co., 63 So. 3d 159 (La. Ct. App. 2011). “R.S. 31:129. Article 130 states the rule, always acknowledged in the jurisprudence, that the mineral lease is indivisible.”
Walton v. Burns, 151 So. 3d 616 (La. Ct. App. 2013). “R.S. 31:129 was made in Chief Judge Brown's dissent in Wagoner .”
Davis Oil Co. v. TS, INC., 962 F. Supp. 872 (E.D. La. 1997). · cites it 2× “La.Rev.Stat.Ann. § 31:128 (West 1989). 69 .”
Kleas v. Mayfield, 404 So. 2d 500 (La. Ct. App. 1981). “R.S. 31:129 plainly provides: "An assignor or sublessor is not relieved of his obligations or liabilities under a mineral lease unless the lessor has discharged him expressly and in writing.”
Rainbow Gun Club, Inc. v. Denbury Res., Inc., 247 So. 3d 844 (La. Ct. App. 2018). · cites it 2× “R.S. 31:129 (emphasis added). Therefore, unless expressly discharged in writing by the lessor, the original lessee, along with all future assignees or sublessees, become solidarily liable to the lessor for the whole performance of the lessee's obligations imposed by the mineral…”
Terrebonne Par. Sch. Bd. v. Castex, 878 So. 2d 522 (La. Ct. App. 2004). “R.S. 31:129 (an assignor is not relieved of his obligations or liabilities under a mineral lease unless the lessor has discharged him expressly and in writing).”
Guy v. Empress, L.L.C., 193 So. 3d 177 (La. Ct. App. 2016). “LSA-R.S. 31:129. A partial.assignment or partial sublease does not divide a mineral lease.”
Vinton Harbor & Terminal Dist. v. Reunion Energy Co. (La. 2026). · cites it 2× “It expressly provides that when any mineral lease has been assigned by one lessee to another, the predecessor in title (assignor) is “not relieved of his obligations or liabilities under a mineral lease unless the lessor has discharged him expressly and in writing.”
Shanks v. Exxon Corp., 984 So. 2d 53 (La. Ct. App. 2007). · cites it 4× “drilling costs and the limited, in rem liability of sublessee TXP, as decided in Shanks on the basis of oil and gas unitization law; and (3) failing to recognize and apply the provisions of the Mineral Code in that the lessee-sublessor Carden "is not relieved of his obligations…”
Lamson v. Austral Oil Co., 712 So. 2d 1081 (La. Ct. App. 1998). “R.S. 31:129. The basic obligation of the lessee, or his assignee, is “to perform the contract in good faith and to develop and operate the property leased as a reasonably prudent operator for the mutual benefit of himself and his lessor.”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.