Thread: Court: Cemex may owe Texas $558 MILLION

Court: Cemex may owe Texas $558M

by Daniel Borunda \ El Paso Times
Posted: 09/02/2011 12:13:30 AM MDT


A state appeals court has ruled against Cemex in a suit that claimed the Mexico-based company owed Texas a half-billion dollars in mineral royalties from its quarry in McKelligon Canyon.

Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson sued Cemex seeking $558 million in fees he said should have gone into a fund that helps public schools.

Cemex claimed that tons of rocks extracted from the quarry did not meet the legal definition for the royalty obligations the land commission sought.

The lawsuit was filed in 2009 and dismissed later that year but was then picked up by the 8th District Court of Appeals.

Judge Guadalupe Rivera ruled in favor of the state on Wednesday and returned the case to the trial court to determine how much Cemex owes.

"The gist of this case is simple: You just can't take what's not yours without a fight in Texas," Patterson said in a statement Thursday evening. "As Texas land commissioner, it's my job to look out for the schoolkids and to make sure they get their fair share."

Patterson's office said the case stems from real estate laws originating when Texas was a territory of Mexico and fell under Spanish rule. The king of Spain issued land grants that allowed the use of the lands for settlement, grazing and farming, but the crown reserved the right to any materials of value on or under the land.

Texas property owners are generally required to lease the mineral rights if they want to extract oil, gas and other materials from the ground. They then pay the state royalties, a percentage of the market value, of what is removed from the land.

The money goes into the Texas Permanent School Fund, which is worth about $25 billion and supports public education.

While Cemex and its predecessors owned the land the quarry is on, the state claimed the rights to minerals in the land.

Texas, according to court documents, sold the McKelligon Canyon lands in 1900, 1906 and 1912.

The Texas General Land Office said in a statement that Cemex and its predecessors have "mined and extracted minerals" in McKelligon Canyon that belonged to Permanent School Fund since the 1940s.

In court documents, Cemex claimed the "dirt, caliche, sand, gravel, limestone and other materials at issue are not 'minerals' reserved to the state and therefore belong to Cemex."

The transnational company also argued that it could not be held responsible for any royalties before 2005 when it purchased the McKelligon Canyon land in Central El Paso.

Cemex officials could not be reached for comment Thursday evening.

Cemex acquired the quarry and plant in March 2005 when it bought RMC Group, which bought the operations from Stanley Jobe in 1999. Jobe continued to manage the El Paso operation until Cemex bought it.

Rivera ruled in favor of the state and in her opinion referred to the Mining Act of 1895, stating that "all deposits of granite, limestone, gravel, sand and any other mineral substances of whatever kind or character having commercial value located on McKelligon Canyon lands as herein identified are reserved to the state of Texas."

Cemex sells cement, ready-mix concrete and building materials in more than 50 countries. It has 46,500 employees around the globe and makes more than $14 billion in sales annually.

Daniel Borunda may be reached at dborunda@elpasotimes.com; 546-6102.

http://www.elpasotimes.com/news/ci_18808625

They may play hell collecting it.

Cemex has a lot of assets in the U.S. that Texas can seize to collect.

CEMEX Worldwide

CEMEX operates in 50 countries around the world, including:

Argentina
Austria
Bangladesh
Colombia
Costa Rica
Croatia
Czech Republic
Dominican Republic
Egypt
El Salvador
Finland
France
Germany
Hungary
Ireland
Indonesia
Israel
Latvia

Mexico (World Corporate Headquarters, Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico) [5] [6] [7] [8] [9]
Malaysia
Nicaragua
Norway
Panama
Philippines
Poland
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
Thailand
The Caribbean
United Arab Emirates
United States (U.S. operations headquarters, Memorial City, Houston, Texas) - CEMEX Inc.[19][20]

Including Puerto Rico
United Kingdom

Subsidiaries
Cemento Ponce General (See Ponce Cement, Inc.) - Ponce, Puerto Rico
Puerto Rican Cement Company - Guaynabo, Puerto Rico
Compania Valencia de Cementos Portland S.A. - Madrid, Spain
Rinker Materials Corporation - West Palm Beach, Florida, United States
CEMEX Australia Pty Limited - Chatswood, Australia
CEMEX Asia Holdings Ltd. - Singapore
CxNetworks - Miami, Florida, United States
CEMEX USA - Houston,[21] Texas, United States
CEMEX UK Limited - Thorpe, Surrey, United Kingdom
New Sunward Holding - Amsterdam, Holland, Netherlands
Cena Acquisitions Corporation - Houston, Texas, United States
CEMEX Mexico - Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico

Crooks, thieves and liars.

Dixie