On January 21, 2016, the Ohio Supreme Court issued a decision affecting the mineral rights of hundreds of landowners in Ohio who leased with Beck Energy: State ex rel. Claugus Family Farm, L.P. v. Seventh Dist. Court of Appeals. The decision actually resolved two cases that the Ohio Supreme Court consolidated on appeal, Hustack v. Beck Energy Corp., an appeal from a decision of the Seventh District Court of Appeals, and State ex rel. Claugus Family Farm, L.P. v. Seventh Dist. Court of Appeals, a mandamus action in which the Seventh District Court of Appeals was sued for issuing a tolling order in the Hustack case while it was on appeal.
The Court’s ruling declared Beck’s leases to be valid and binding. To make matters worse, the Court also refused to void the Seventh District’s tolling order which extended most undrilled Beck leases for an additional 849 days (nearly two year and four months), thereby affecting the rights of Beck landowners who never even received notice of the tolling order...
The Daily JeffView PDF