Long v. Miken Oil, Inc., 12th Court of Appeals, Tyler, March 16, 2016, 2016 Tex. App. LEXIS 2715

A court cannot consider a partition action until all parties to be effected by the partition are before the court.

Miken Oil sued Larry Long to partition two jointly held oil and gas leases, asserting that they are susceptible to being partitioned in kind. Long filed a plea in abatement alleging that necessary parties were not before the court. Miken and Long purchased a fractional interest in the leases – seven-eights. Long contended that the case could not go forward without the joinder of the other one-eighth owner. Also, other individuals had purchased portions of the seven-eighths interest. The court held that the 1/8 owner did not have to be joined but the individuals who owned a portion of the 7/8 interest had to be.