Law School Toolbox Podcast Episode 319: Listen and Learn -- Negligence: Duties of Landlords, Owners, and Possessors of Land
Bar Exam Toolbox Podcast Episode 149: Listen and Learn -- Negligence: Duties of Landlords, Owners, and Possessors of Land
Bar Exam Toolbox Podcast Episode 122: Listen and Learn -- Easements (Real Property)
Newsflash: Rockweed Not a Fish
Let’s assume that you purchase a 105 acre farm in Greene County in 2022. You purchase only the surface estate while the seller, Farmer Jones, retains the underlying oil and gas rights. You intend to grow corn and winter...more
Planning for mineral rights is a crucial aspect of estate planning, specifically for landowners with valuable mineral assets. Mineral rights can significantly impact the value and management of an estate, and proper planning...more
Landowner and mineral owner (that includes you, lessee): Under ETC Texas Pipeline, Ltd. v. Ageron Energy, LLC, your right to sue for damages for tort or trespass could pass into history before you even know you have a claim....more
The question in Self v, BPX Operating Company is how to balance the Louisiana Civil Code Art 2292 principle of negotiorum gestio against Louisiana’s conservation statutes....more
Let’s assume you own a 160-acre farm in Washington County. Your father purchased the farm in 1992 from a local farmer named Jones. (the “1992 Deed”). At the time your father purchased the farm, there was an oil and gas lease...more
Let’s assume your grandfather owned 99 acres in Washington County. In 1955, he sells a small portion of the farm to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in order to facilitate the construction of new State Route 39. This acreage...more
The calculation of production royalties and the deduction of post-production costs remains a controversial topic here in Pennsylvania. As we have written before, there is another frustrating and often confusing...more
Texas courts continue to address the “fixed or floating” non-participating royalty interest question. The El Paso Court of Appeals’ answer in Bridges v. Uhl et al. was floating, based on the language in that particular...more
The question in Brooke-Willbanks v. Flatland Mineral Fund LP, et al was which party to a Texas mineral deed would bear the burden of two previously reserved nonparticipating royalty interests....more
This seems to be the season for oil patch courts to return property to its rightful owners. Last week it was a regulatory taking by the City of Dallas. This week it is Northwest Landowners Association v. State of North...more
On March 24, 2022, the Ohio Supreme Court reviewed the Ohio Dormant Mineral Act and further clarified the steps a surface owners must take to identify and locate mineral holders before serving notice of abandonment. ...more
The baseball season might be in jeopardy, but litigants are swinging for the fences. In Mary v. QEP Energy, the parties entered into a Pipelins Servitude Agreement over Ms. Mary’s 160 acres. One of QEP’s pipelines extended...more
The Texas Supreme Court in Concho Resources, Inc. v. Ellison enforced a boundary stipulation involving an unambiguous deed about which there had been no dispute. You can refer to our earlier post to understand the facts, the...more
On March 16, 2021, the Supreme Court of Ohio issued another important opinion in the ongoing tug of war between surface landowners and severed mineral owners over the ownership of valuable mineral rights in Ohio. In Erickson...more
On December 17, the Supreme Court of Ohio held in Gerrity v. Chervenak that the circumstances of each respective case will control the efforts a surface owner must take before resorting to notice by publication under the...more
Since the beginning of recorded mineral law, the owner of the mineral interests has enjoyed an elevated status in its relationship with the surface owner, resulting in the universally accepted notion that the mineral estate...more
Trump Admin Submits Final Rule to Kill Obama Clean Power Plan - "The new replacement rule to the Clean Power Plan, deemed the Affordable Clean Energy rule, aims to give states more time and authority to decide how to...more
You have just arrived on the new ranch property you just purchased, leaving the rat race of city life and ready to get to work on the land. You allowed the seller to reserve the minerals so long as he waived his rights to...more
On December 19, 2018, Ohio Governor John Kasich signed Ohio Senate Bill No. 263, which amended O.R.C. 4735.01 to exempt oil and gas land professionals (landmen) from the real-estate licensing requirement made necessary by the...more
On September 25, 2018, the Supreme Court of Ohio issued its opinion which held that oil and gas land professionals must be licensed as real estate brokers in Ohio if they are engaged in obtaining oil and gas leases for other...more
On September 25, 2018, the Ohio Supreme Court issued its decision in Thomas Dundics v. Eric Petroleum, Slip Opinion No. 2018-Ohio-3826, holding that the plain language of Ohio Revised Code 4735.01 does not exclude oil and gas...more
The fight over the historical concept of the “Rule of Capture” as applied to gas rights in Pennsylvania continued recently as the appellees in the matter of Briggs v Southwestern Energy Prod. Co. recently requested a...more
On March 5, 2018, the West Virginia Legislature completed legislative action on and passed House Bill 4268, known as the Cotenancy Modernization and Majority Protection Act. The bill will now be delivered to the Governor’s...more
The Supreme Court of Ohio on January 30, 2018 issued an opinion in State ex rel. Kerns v. Simmers, Slip Opinion No. 2018-Ohio-256, denying a writ of mandamus seeking to compel the Chief of the Ohio Department of Natural...more
On January 3, 2018, the Supreme Court of Ohio issued an opinion in Alford v. Collins-McGregor Operating Co., Slip Opinion No. 2018–Ohio–8, affirming the dismissal of the landowners’ complaint for failure to state a claim upon...more