Some Texans Claim State Owes Millions in Mineral Rights

Posted: Nov 7, 2014 6:48 PM
Updated: Nov 7, 2014 7:33 PM

RIO GRANDE VALLEY - Some Hispanic Texans claim the state owes them hundreds of millions of dollars. They claim to be descendants of original Spanish and Mexican landowners. They said Texas has collected money for years through what are called mineral rights.

Earlier this year the governor appointed a commission to look into the issue. That commission just released a report on its findings.

In some ways, this story is older than Texas itself. The governments of Spain and Mexico granted land to their citizens.

Some of that land is right here in the Valley. Some of it was rich in things like oil and natural gas. Companies bought the land and made millions.

Some Texans said under an 1848 treaty with Mexico, they are entitled to some of that money because they are descendants of those original Mexican and Spanish landowners.

Some people are paying a Houston-area lawyer hundreds of dollars each to file claims. According to the report, those people may be gambling on a very remote long shot.

Elmer Sierra and Nick Balli traced their heritage back centuries.
Sierra said, "My family has been here for 15 generations. They came here in 1650."

Balli has pages and pages of documents and said, "They're certified by Mexico as you can see by the stamps."

Sierra and Balli are two of the thousands of Texans who believe the state owes them money from mineral proceeds based on their family's Spanish or Mexican land grants.

They are not part of a group that retained the services of a Houston-area attorney named Eileen McKenzie Fowler.

Fowler filed claims against the state for years. She said she has thousands of clients, none in the Valley.

She said clients have to bundle together in groups of one hundred. Then they pay her $375 each so she can file a claim on behalf of that group. That comes to $37,500 per every group for which she files a claim.

Fowler first agreed to a phone interview then claimed she was so busy she didn't have time to talk even for a few minutes.

Her webpage claims she represents the heirs of dozens of land grant recipients to recover mineral proceeds from land in several South Texas counties.

The list includes several names in Starr, Hidalgo and Cameron counties.

Governor Perry appointed a commission to look into the issue. The commission will help decide whether the state should start paying mineral proceeds claims to land grant descendants.

The presiding officer of the commission is Corpus Christi Attorney Lance Bruun.

Bruun said years ago, one family wanted him to represent them in a land grant claim.

Bruun said, "This is a sad story because the family that came to see me absolutely believed, in their heart of hearts, that there was money for them. A lot of money. The reality is that's just not true. It can't happen."

Central to land grant claims is the argument that under the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, even if a landowner sold property, they retained the mineral rights to that land forever. Those rights would then transfer down to the landowner's descendants.

"That's not true. That is totally false," said Bruun.

The mineral proceeds commission finished a draft report and mentioned Attorney Eileen Fowler and her claims.

One of the key phrases states,"Ms. Fowler's enterprise and the creation of hopes and expectations on the part of the descendants far beyond any reasonable level of attainment under current law."

Bruun said, "She's been working on this for a long time. Again, she's collected a lot of money from people. Although not a lot from any one person, she's never recovered any money for anybody."

The report's findings are no surprise to Balli.

When asked if he respected the findings of this commission, Balli replied "No. From day one, I was aware that we were not going to accomplish anything by this commission. It was so biased with a lot of conflicts of interest, especially with all lawyers and oil people there representing the oil companies. Everything that we showed them, they refused to even study it."

Balli and Sierra said Texas has an obligation to honor the 1846 treaty between the U.S. and Mexico.

Their claims go beyond the issue of mineral proceeds. They said they will keep on building their case and prepare to take it to a higher court.

Bruun said the Texas Comptroller's Office could have more than $330 million in unclaimed mineral proceeds. To be eligible, you would have to prove you are a legal heir to the owner of land which is connected to those proceeds.

The Texas Comptroller's Office has this website that shows the names of those owners.

http://www.krgv.com/news/some-texans...ineral-rights/