Ohio Appellate Court Clarifies Notice Requirements under the 2006 Dormant Act

Nearly 18 months after the Ohio Supreme Court issued a series of sweeping decisions interpreting Ohio’s Dormant Mineral Act, led by Corban v. Chesapeake Exploration, LLC, 2016-Ohio-5796, the Ohio Court of Appeals for the Seventh Appellate District issued a ruling on March 5, 2018 that clarified questions left unanswered by Corban centering around the notice standard of the 2006 version of Ohio’s Dormant Mineral Act found at O.R.C. 5301.56 (“2006 DMA”).
In Shilts v. Beardmore, 2018-Ohio-863, the Court of Appeals examined a surface owner’s attempts to comply with the 2006 DMA notice provisions required to abandon a reserved oil and gas interest created in 1914.