Tillotson Patton is representing Redtown Ranch Holdings and Pine Bliss — two East Texas ranching entities owned by Hayman Capital Management founder Kyle Bass — in a federal lawsuit challenging a groundwater permitting moratorium adopted by the Neches and Trinity Valleys Groundwater Conservation District.
Filed in the Tyler Division of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, the complaint contends that the District's recent moratorium on new drilling, operating, and transfer permits amounts to an unconstitutional taking of the landowners' groundwater rights without compensation. The two ranches — a 7,221-acre property in Anderson County and a 4,355-acre family ranch in Henderson County — are asking the court to declare that the moratorium, in effect, confiscates property the Constitution protects.
Partner Mollie Mallory leads plaintiff representation alongside founding partner Jeff Tillotson. The filing was reported by The Texas Lawbook. Read the coverage →
“Our clients have spent years lawfully pursuing their property rights, only to face a targeted and indefinite regulatory roadblock. This moratorium prevents them from accessing the groundwater beneath their own land.
The government cannot weaponize its regulatory power to strip Texas landowners of their property rights. We intend to hold the District accountable.”
The firm serves as co-counsel with Edmond R. McCarthy Jr. and Edmond R. McCarthy III of McCarthy & McCarthy. The case, No. 6:26-cv-00328, has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Jeremy D. Kernodle.