Ohio Court of Appeals Clarifies MTA and DMA Issues in Recent Oil and Gas Rights Cases

In a series of opinions following the recent Supreme Court of Ohio decision in Blackstone v. Moore, 2018-Ohio-4959, the Seventh District Court of Appeals has ruled that the Marketable Title Act ("MTA") and the Dormant Mineral Act ("DMA") apply to both severed mineral or severed royalty interests. In other words, surface owners seeking to terminate reserved mineral or royalty interests have two statuses to use as a poddible basis for cancelling these types of interests. Likewise, reserved mineral holders may seek to preserve their severed mineral and royalty interests under both statuses.