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The Ohio Supreme Court has accepted an appeal in an additional case concerning Ohio’s Dormant Mineral Act, O.R.C. § 5301.56: Wendt v. Dickerson, 2014-2051.
Wendt concerns whether the 1989 version or 2006 version of the Ohio Dormant Mineral Act should be applied in an action concerning a 1952 reservation. The issues accepted for appeal are:
1. The 2006 version of the Ohio Dormant Minerals Act controls the vesting of title in a surface owner who did not make a claim for the mineral interests before the 2006 enactment; and
2. The 1989 version of the ODMA did not provide mineral owners with the due process of law required under the State and Federal Constitution [sic].
The Ohio Supreme Court will hold Wendt pending the outcome in Walker v. Shondrick-Nau, a case involving Ohio’s Dormant Mineral Act previously accepted by the Ohio Supreme Court for review.
The Ohio Supreme Court declined to accept the third proposition of law requested for review by the appellants as the Court granted appellees’ motion to strike a portion of the appellants’ brief for exceeding the Court’s 15-page limitation. The third proposition not accepted by the Court is:
3. The ODMA is not now and never was self-executing.
Additional analysis of the Dormant Mineral Act litigation may be found here.
Christopher Wendt, et al., v. Constance Clark, et al., 2014-Ohio-2051
NOTE: This general summary of the law should not be used to solve individual problems since slight changes in the fact situation may require a material variance in the applicable legal advice. If you have any questions concerning the application of the DMA, please contact Attorney David E. Butz or Attorney Matthew W. Onest at 330-497-0700.