A decision from the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania should serve as an important reminder for landowners who, in the midst of ongoing oil and gas development, may resort to the courts to confirm their ownership interests. The case is Pennsylvania Game Commission v. Thomas E. Proctor Heirs Trust, 1:12-CV-1567 (M.D.Pa. July 24, 2014).
This case involved a dispute as to ownership of minerals underlying approximately 2,500 acres in Sullivan County. In 1895, Thomas Proctor and his wife, Emma Proctor, conveyed the property to the Union Tanning Co., reserving for Thomas Proctor, his heirs and assigns, “all the minerals, coal, oil, gas or petroleum found in or under the surface” of the property. Shortly thereafter, he died; he was survived by his wife and their four children. In 1908, the Sullivan County treasurer sold the property at a tax sale due to unpaid taxes to C.H. McCauley Jr. At the time of the tax sale, the land was unseated, meaning that the mineral estate was not assessed separately from the surface estate. In 1910, McCauley deeded the property to Central Pennsylvania Lumber Co., which in 1925 deeded the property to the Pennsylvania Game Commission, the eventual plaintiff.
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