Devon Energy Production Co. v. Mosiac Potash Carlsbad, Inc., No. 11-2026 (10th Cir. 2012)
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Plaintiff-Appellant Devon Energy Production Company, L.P. appealed a district court's judgment which dismissed Devon’s declaratory-judgment action against Defendant-Appellee Mosaic Potash Carlsbad, Inc. for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction. More specifically, under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 57, Devon sought a declaratory judgment that federal law completely preempted Mosaic’s anticipated state-law claims emanating from Devon’s unauthorized drilling in a federally managed area of New Mexico known as the "Potash Area," and that the only remedies available to Mosaic were derived from the federal administrative and judicial remedies of the Administrative Procedure Act and certain regulatory provisions of the U.S. Department of the Interior that govern oil, gas, and potash leasing and development within the Potash Area. Devon alleged that the district court had federal-question jurisdiction over its declaratory-judgment action under 28 U.S.C. 1331. The district court concluded that there was no federal-question jurisdiction to support Devon’s action and dismissed its complaint, and subsequently denied Devon’s motion to alter or amend the judgment under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 59(e). Upon review of the district court's judgment, the Tenth Circuit affirmed.
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