CHARLESTON—The West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals reversed a decision regarding the ownership of certain oil and gas rights in Harrison County.
The opinion was authored by Justice Allen Loughry. It was filed on May 23.
L&D Investments filed a lawsuit on Dec. 10, 2013, alleging that CNX, Consol and Antero were extracting oil and gas from property that it owned interests to, and that the companies refused L&D's request for royalty payments because of the alleged ownership of the oil and gas interests by Mike Ross Inc. (MRI).
Justice Allen Loughry
Carolyn Thurber Cooley, who owned 20 percent interest in the oil and gas rights at the time of her death, left the interests to her children when she passed. Her four children each claimed an undivided one-twentieth interest in that 20 percent and continued to pay tax assessments on their respective shares.
This issue occurred when the master assessment for the year 2000 was not paid and became delinquent, which was the 80 percent undivided interest in the oil and gas. It was sold to MRI in 2001 and, in 2003, a tax sale deed was issued to MRI, which conveyed the 80 percent interest in the oil and gas.
L&D purchased the oil and gas interests in 2013 and notified the entities that were extracting the oil and gas from the property of the purchase and its right to receive any royalty payments.
M&D was then informed by the gas producers that the interests it claimed to have purchased had actually been sold for delinquent taxes to MRI in 2001.
In the lawsuit, MRI filed a cross-claim, asserting that it had acquired the oil and gas rights of Robert Hitzelberger through the tax sale; however, Hitzelberger maintained that he still owned a 20 percent interest in the oil and gas separate from L&D's interests.
The circuit court entered summary judgment in favor of MRI and declared it the owner of 80 percent of the oil and gas interests in the two tracts of land. It also concluded the L&D's claims were moot against Antero.
L&D filed a motion to alter or amend the grant of summary judgment to MRI, which was denied. Hitzelberger then appealed the summary judgment order, and L&D appealed the order denying the motion to alter or amend the grant of summary judgment.
The Supreme Court said this is the third appeal to Harrison Circuit Court stemming from the creation of duplicate assessments of certain mineral estates by the Harrison County Assessor beginning in the 1980s.
Because of the double assessments and the payment of the taxes by the petitioners, the Supreme Court found that the mineral interests were never delinquent and the sale of the mineral interests for delinquent taxes was void as a matter of law.
The Supreme Court reversed the circuit court's grant of summary judgment to MRI and remanded the case for entry of an order declaring the tax deed issued to MRI void as a matter of law.
The court also reversed the circuit court's decision regarding L&D's claim against Antero and remanded it for further proceedings.
