Our Attorneys

• Texas, 2017
• United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas
• United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas
• United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Texas
• United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas
• United States District Court for the District of New Mexico

• State Bar of Texas
• Amarillo Area Bar Association
• Amarillo Area Young Lawyers Association, Board Member
• Texas Trial Lawyers Association

• “2021 Texas Rules of Civil Procedure Update,” Texas Panhandle Paralegal Association, August 2021.
• “What’s in a Name? – Correctly Identifying Parties,” Texas Panhandle Paralegal Association, August 2020.

• Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Texas Panhandle, Board Member
• Los Barrios de Amarillo
• Amarillo Competitive Fencing Association

Oil & Gas Disputes

• Crawford v. XTO Energy, Inc., 02-18-00217-CV (Tex. App.—Fort Worth December 19, 2019, pet. filed)

Insurance Coverage

• State Farm Lloyds v. MacKeen, No. 07-17-00175-CV, 2019 WL 2168041 (Tex. App.—Amarillo 2019, no pet. h.)

Civil Procedure

• In re DCP Operating Co, No. 07-18-00416-CV, 2019 WL 1908147 (Tex. App.—Amarillo 2019) (orig. proceeding)

Bankruptcy Jurisdiction

• Lone Star State Bank of West Texas v. Rabo Agrifinance, LLC (In re: Waggoner Cattle, LLC), No. 18-20126-RLJ-11, 2019 WL 469367 (Bankr. N.D. Tex. Feb. 6, 2019)
• Lone Star State Bank of West Texas v. Waggoner (In re Waggoner Cattle, LLC), No. 18-20126-RLJ-11, 2018 WL 6060351 (Bankr. N.D. Tex. Nov. 19, 2018)

In November 2023, Matthew S. Merriott argued before the Federal Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in Laur
v. Safeco Insurance Company of Indiana that his clients were wrongfully denied coverage under their
homeowners insurance policy. After a water leak filled the basement with water, Safeco disregarded the
findings of its own leak investigator and contracted the terms of the policy to find exclusions. Because
these exclusions are not applicable, the homeowners seek a ruling from the Court that their loss is
covered.
To listen to the audio of the oral arguments in this case: Click Here

In October 2021, Matthew S. Merriott argued that the decedent breached a contractual estate plan in In re Estate of Magdalena Sanchez McMordie before the Second Court of Appeals sitting at Texas Tech School of Law. The issue before the Court was the definitions of the assets in the agreement. At her death, the funds and securities in an brokerage account were to go to the decedent’s nieces and nephews and the rest of her property was to be left to her husband’s trust. After her husband’s death, the decedent received income from his trust that she invested in her brokerage account. The trust argued that these new contributions were not part of the brokerage account assets defined in the agreement and should therefore be distributed to the trust.

A video of oral arguments in this case is available on the Seventh Court of Appeal’s YouTube channel: Click Here

In April 2019, Matthew S. Merriott argued against the application of the strip and gore doctrine in Richard D. Crawford v. XTO Energy, Inc. before the Second Court of Appeals. This case addresses whether the owner of a small mineral tract was entitled to unpaid royalties from the operator. The operator claimed that, under the strip and gore doctrine, the landowner’s predecessor had transferred the tract to a developer when she deeded adjacent tracts, even though that deed did not describe the mineral tract. The landowner maintained that the strip and gore doctrine did not apply because the tract had not ceased to be of benefit or importance to the landowner’s predecessor.

To listen to the audio of Matthew Merriott’s oral arguments in this case: Click Here