Supreme Court of Ohio to Hear Oral Arguments on the Ohio DMA

Today, the Supreme Court of Ohio will hear oral arguments in two cases involving the Ohio Dormant Mineral Act (DMA).

In Dodd v. Croskey, the Court will consider whether a notice of preservation - timely filed after an abandonment notice - was effective to preserve a mineral interest under the 2006 version of the DMA where no savings events occurred within the 20 years preceding the abandonment notice.

In Chesapeake v. Buell, the Court will address the following issues:

1. Is the recorded lease of a severed subsurface mineral estate a title transaction under the DMA?
2. Is the expiration of a recorded lease and the reversion of rights granted under that lease a title transaction that restarts the twenty-year forfeiture clock under the DMA at the time of the reversion?

For summaries of these two cases, see here and here. Click here later in the day to see video replays of the oral arguments in these two cases (or you could even watch them live).