Statute of Limitations in Lack of Production

Ohio’s Fourth District Court of Appeals issued an important decision utilizing a statute of limitations to determine whether a landowner’s claims that an oil and gas lease expired due to lack of production were time-barred. In that case, Rudolph v.Viking Internatl. Resources Co., Inc., 2017-Ohio-7369 (August 11, 2017), the court applied the 21-year statute of limitations for recovery of real property under R.C. 2305.06, rather than a shorter eight-year statute of limitation urged by the producer. This ruling means that, in the Fourth District,landowners’ declaratory judgment claims that a lease has expired for non-production may be barred if not brought within 21 years of the date when the  landowner’s cause of action based on non-production first accrued.