(November 2, 2015, 1:09 PM EST) -- AUSTIN, Texas — A Texas Supreme Court justice on Oct. 14 said the City of Lubbock’s arguments against applying the accommodation doctrine to groundwater cases sounded like amicus curiae arguments made in the original case and told the city’s attorney that “the world didn’t end” when the court created the doctrine for oil producers (Coyote Lake Ranch, LLC v. City Of Lubbock, No. 14-0572, Texas Sup.).

During arguments on Oct. 14, the Supreme Court questioned the differences and similarities between oil — which the accommodation doctrine...