In Sun Oil Co. v. Humble Oil & Refining Co., 88 F. Supp. 658 (S.D. Tex. 1950), Sun Oil, the State's mineral lessee in a part of the mud flats at issue in the present case, sued the Foundation's predecessors in interest and their mineral lessee, Humble Oil, to determine whose lease was valid. The district court permitted the State to intervene in the litigation as the competing owner to title to the land at issue, 51 but the Fifth Circuit reversed this ruling because the presence of the State as a party would defeat diversity jurisdiction on which the case was based. The Fifth Circuit held that "the trial court could not and did not acquire jurisdiction over the controversy between the State of Texas and the defendants" and modified the judgment "so as not to be binding upon the State". The federal district court concluded that Sun Oil's lease was valid, and the Fifth Circuit affirmed.