Mealey's (June 17, 2015, 4:39 PM EDT) -- NEW ORLEANS — A panel of the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Jan. 27 affirmed a lower court’s ruling that an oral agreement between landowners and a hydraulic fracturing company related to mineral rights for the production of oil wells was not enforceable because under Louisiana law, those contracts must be put in writing (Kevin Schmidt, et al. v. J-Lu Company Limited LLC, No. 14-31012, 5th Cir.; 2015 U.S. App. LEXIS 1212)....