In April, we reported on an Arkansas Supreme Court case which held that, at least as of 1934, the term “mineral rights” included oil and gas as a matter of law.  But what about deeds of an older vintage?  Last week, the Arkansas Supreme Court, inNicholson v. Upland Industrial Development Co., 2012 Ark. 326 (Sept. 13, 2012), ruled that a 1903 deed reserving “mineral rights” included oil and gas rights because at the time of the deed and in the general region where the deed was executed, that was the common understanding.  In other words, the per se rule announced in Staggs v, Union Pacific RR Co.* did not apply. Read More »

Share | Email| Comments|  Topics: Arkansas, Deeds, Drilling, Exploration, Leases, Mineral Rights, Oil and Gas, Procedure, Real Estate

One of the very first things I was told by the senior partner when I started practicing law was that there isn’t an honest mistake that can’t be fixed, except blowing the statute of limitations. As a result, my calendar has limitations periods blocked out weeks, months and in some cases years in advance, and if there’s ever a question of when it runs, I use the earliest date. The Tenth Circuit’s decision in Impact Energy Resources, LLC v. Salazar, Nos. 11-4043 & 11-4057 (Sept. 5, 2012 10^th Cir.), is a cautionary tale to those who may not be as conservative. Read More »

Share | Email| Comments|  Topics: Administrative Procedures Act, Cases to Watch, Exploration, Federal Procedure, Interior, Leases, Mineral Leasing Act, Oil and Gas, Procedure, Public Lands, Statute of Limitations, Tenth Circuit, Tolling

Pennsylvania’s Act 13 of 2012, signed in February of this year, revised the Commonwealth’s Oil and Gas Act to accommodate and address the increased activity associated with the extraction of natural gas from the Marcellus Shale.  It included provisions for impact fees, environmental protections, and set-back restrictions.  In addition, it also required local municipalities to adhere to uniform zoning laws that would provide for the development of oil and gas resources in the Commonwealth.  Yesterday, in the case of Robinson Township v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, No. 284 M.D. 2012 (July 26, 2012), the Commonwealth Court in a 4-3 decision held that provision of the law to be unconstitutional. Read More »

Share | Email| Comments|  Topics: Act 13, Cases to Watch, Drilling, Due Process, Leases, Marcellus Shale, Oil and Gas, Pennsylvania, Procedure, Real Estate, Standing, Zoning

With increasing frequency, courts around the country are using their inherent power to control the proceedings before them in order to structure environmental and toxic tort cases in such a way as to reduce, as much as possible, cases to their essence and, more importantly, ensure that the time and resources of parties are not needlessly wasted on discovery or lengthy proceedings when spurious claims are brought.  And that’s exactly what has happened in the case of Strudley v. Antero Resources Corp., No. 2011 CV 2218 (Denver Co. Dist. Court  May 9, 2012), where the Court dismissed plaintiffs’ claims against companies involved in drilling natural gas wells when the plaintiffs failed to show, prior to the initiation of discovery, that there was a prima facie basis for associating their personal injury claims with the defendants’ activities. Read More »

Share | Email| Comments|  Topics: Decisions of Note, Drilling, Marcellus Shale, Medical Monitoring, Multi-District Litigation, Oil and Gas, Procedure, Real Estate, Toxic Torts

Yesterday, in discussing the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s grant of review in Butler v. Estate of Powers, we suggested that maybe it was time to do away with the rebuttable presumption that the owner of “mineral rights” does not own rights in a property’s natural gas stores and instead make it a firm rule of law, particularly in light of the fact that the presumption has been around for over a century.    Well, last week, this is exactly the step that the Supreme Court of Arkansas took in Staggs v, Union Pacific RR Co., 2012 Ark. 156 (Apr. 12, 2012), although holding that “mineral rights” do include oil and gas rights.  Read More »

Share | Email| Comments|  Topics: Arkansas, Deeds, Leases, Marcellus Shale, Oil and Gas

As we reported previously, recent exploration and production in the Marcellus Shale has forced Pennsylvania courts to address interpretation of oil and gas leases which may be over 100 years old, relying on cases that are similarly over 100 years old, and to harmonize or reject those cases as they impact the people and property in the 21^stcentury.  On March 26, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court attempted to do just that in T.W. Phillips Gas and Oil Co. v. Jedlicka, No. 19 WAP 2009 (Mar. 26, 2012).  The case involved a 1926 oil and gas lease which provided, in relevant part, that the lease would continue for “as long . . . as oil or gas is produced in paying quantities” and required interpretation of the term “in paying quantities.”  Read More »

Share | Email| Comments|  Topics: Decisions of Note, Drilling, Exploration, Leases, Marcellus Shale, Oil and Gas, Pennsylvania, Real Estate, Royalties

For the past year, the natural gas industry was hopeful that 2012 could be the year that Marcellus Shale natural gas production in New York could finally begin in earnest.  Governor Paterson’s Executive Order No. 41, which effectively banned the use of high volume hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling necessary to extract natural gas from the Marcellus Shale, expired in 2011.  During the moratorium the state moved forward with its efforts to establish a regulatory and permitting framework that would allow for Marcellus Shale development in New York.  New York’s Department of Environmental Conservation (“DEC”) issued for public comment preliminary and revised draft Generic Environmental Impact Statements that recommended lifting the moratorium on Marcellus Shale development.  In addition, DEC issued a set of proposed regulations applicable to high-volume hydraulic fracturing in 2011.  With the  comment period on the regulations closing on January 11, 2012, industry hoped that the administrative and regulatory hurdles holding back Marcellus Shale development in New York would soon be gone.  Read More »

Share | Email| Comments|  Topics: Marcellus Shale, Oil and Gas

Much attention has been paid recently to the terms of oil and gas leases in light of the increasing exploration and production activity in the Marcellus Shale region.  But in other parts of the country, particularly Texas and Oklahoma, oil and gas royalties are old hat.  Which may be why, in a December 16, 2011 decision, the Supreme Court of Texas held that a lessor of gas rights was barred by the statute of limitations from recovering underpayments made by Shell Oil Company – which had unabashedly admitted at trial that it had underpaid the plaintiff’s predecessor-in-interest for at least 3 years, and possibly ten years, and that in doing so it had breached its contract. Read More »

Share | Email| Comments|  Topics: Breach of Contract, Leases, Marcellus Shale, Oil and Gas, Statute of Limitations, Tolling

In one of the first lawsuits seeking personal injuries and medical monitoring in connection with natural gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale – one of the largest and most recent natural gas plays in North America – the first blow has been dealt to the plaintiffs, who have been ordered by a Special Master tasked with overseeing discovery to produce all of their medical records to the defendants. Read More »

Share | Email| Comments|  Topics: Cases to Watch, Class Actions, Decisions of Note, Dimock, Marcellus Shale, Medical Monitoring, Oil and Gas, Toxic Torts

MGKF litigator Chris Ball recently considered this issue in an article published in The Legal Intelligencer. You can drill into what he had to say here.

Share | Email| Comments|  Topics: Marcellus Shale, Oil and Gas