US Supreme Court Rejects Appeal of Ohio Dormant Mineral Act Case

MDN has reported on the Ohio Dormant Minerals Act (DMA) for years. In a nutshell, there are two DMAs in Ohio–one passed in 1989 that went into effect in 1992, and another in 2006 which added certain additional procedural requirements to the 1989 version. The DMA in its various versions provides for mineral rights that had previously been separated from surface rights to transfer back to the surface owner under certain conditions. The problem, for drillers and for landowners in Ohio, is in knowing which set of DMA rules to use (1989 or 2006) in determining who owns the mineral rights. A number of DMA cases went before the Ohio Supreme Court. In September the Ohio Supreme Court ruled in three cases, saying all of the other cases come under those three (see Important: OH Supreme Court Finally Rules on Dormant Mineral Act). The three cases receiving full opinions were: Corban v. Chesapeake Exploration, L.L.C.; Walker v. Shondrick-Nau; and Albanese v. Batman. The Walker in Walker v. Shondrick-Nau didn’t like the outcome and appealed his case to the U.S. Supreme Court, asking for a “writ of certiorari”–which is essentially a request to review the case. The U.S. Supremes rejected the request–which means the Ohio Supremes’ rulings last September stand and are Ohio law with respect to the DMA…