By Ilya Batikov on Posted in EnergyThe Supreme Court of Ohio accepted a case involving the Ohio Dormant Mineral Act (ODMA), Fonzi v. Brown, but held the case until the Court decides Gerrity v. Chervenak. In Fonzi, the Court will consider issues over the extent of a landowner’s duty to exercise reasonable diligence in notifying mineral owners of an abandonment under… Continue Reading
By Jay Carr on Posted in EnergyOn January 21, 2020, the Supreme Court of Ohio accepted an appeal from the Seventh District Court of Appeals’ decision in West v. Bode, Case No. 18-MO-0017. The issue accepted for review by the Court is whether, due to a perceived conflict between the statutes, the Ohio Dormant Mineral Act (R.C. 5301.56), being the specific… Continue Reading
By Ilya Batikov on Posted in EnergyIn July, we wrote about Gerrity v. Chervenak (5th Dist., Guernsey County), involving the level of due diligence that the Ohio Dormant Mineral Act requires surface owners to use when notifying mineral holders of abandonment proceedings. On October 15, 2019, the Supreme Court of Ohio agreed to hear Gerrity. The Court will consider the following… Continue Reading
By Jay Carr on Posted in EnergyThe Fifth Appellate District recently addressed whether an internet search to identify / locate the holders of severed mineral interests is always required under Ohio’s Dormant Mineral Act (“ODMA”). See, Gerrity v. Chervenak, 2019-Ohio-2687. In 1965, Jane Richards obtained title to certain severed mineral interests located in Guernsey County, Ohio (“Gerrity Minerals”). In 1997, Ms.… Continue Reading
By Jay Carr on Posted in EnergyOhio’s Seventh District Court of Appeals recently held once again that fee oil and gas interests are subject to possible extinguishment under Ohio’s Marketable Title Act (MTA). See Stalder v. Bucher, 2019-Ohio-936. In Stalder, the mineral owners advanced two arguments against extinguishment. First, they claimed that the MTA no longer applies to mineral interests. In… Continue Reading
By Ilya Batikov and Jay Carr on Posted in EnergyOn December 13, 2018, the Supreme Court of Ohio clarified the preservation of interests under the Ohio Marketable Title Act (OMTA). See Blackstone v. Moore, Slip Opinion No. 2018-Ohio-4959. In its decision, the Court held that under the OMTA, a deed reference to a previously reserved royalty interest is sufficiently-specific to preserve that royalty interest where the… Continue Reading
By Jay Carr on Posted in EnergyEarlier this week, Ohio’s 7th District Court of Appeals again addressed the amount of diligence required to identify the holders of severed mineral interests under the 2006 version of Ohio’s Dormant Mineral Act (2006 DMA). In Sharp v. Miller, 2018-Ohio-4740, the Court reaffirmed its earlier ruling in Shilts v. Beardmore that the 2006 DMA only… Continue Reading
By Ilya Batikov on Posted in EnergyOn September 15, 2016, the Supreme Court of Ohio issued a number of decisions concerning the application of the Ohio Dormant Mineral Act (R.C. 5301.56) (DMA). In the lead case, Corban v. Chesapeake Exploration, L.L.C., et al., 2016-Ohio-5796 , the Court held that: The 1989 version of the DMA was not self-executing (i.e., did not automatically transfer ownership… Continue Reading
By Ilya Batikov on Posted in EnergyOn April 8, 2015, the Supreme Court of Ohio accepted review of Taylor v. Crosby, a case involving the 1989 version of the Ohio Dormant Mineral Act (“1989 DMA”). The court will consider whether the 1989 DMA creates a “fixed” or “rolling” look-back period. The case is held for a decision in Walker v. Shondrick-Nau.… Continue Reading
By Ilya Batikov on Posted in EnergyOn December 12, the Seventh District Court of Appeals issued two companion decisions regarding the 1989 version of the Ohio Dormant Mineral Act (“1989 DMA”): Lipperman v. Batman (Case No. 14 BE 2) and Albanese v. Batman (Case No. 14 BE 22). The decisions concerned mineral rights that were severed sometime prior to 1969 and came to… Continue Reading
By Ilya Batikov on Posted in EnergyAs a follow-up to our post from June, the Supreme Court of Ohio accepted the appeal in Swartz v. Householder and Shannon v. Householder, two related cases involving the 1989 version and the 2006 version of the Ohio Dormant Mineral Act (DMA). The Court will consider the following issues: (1) whether the 1989 DMA is… Continue Reading
By Ilya Batikov on Posted in EnergyRecently, the Seventh District Court of Appeals ruled on two cases involving the 1989 and 2006 versions of the Ohio Dormant Mineral Act (“DMA”). In Taylor v. Crosby (September 24, 2014), the court considered whether mineral rights severed in 1971 were abandoned under the 1989 DMA and 2006 DMA. The trial court construed the 1989… Continue Reading
