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Permalink Reply by insomniacnla on August 18, 2008 at 14:40

You should also ask the landman for a copy of that pre-existing lease that the landman feels is still valid.

A CHK landman told me that same thing but he was getting some things confused. He was getting the shut-in period of a lease confused with the 10 year prescription of mineral rights. It was not land in my section or that I currently own. It was a lease from 1930 or so that stopped producing in 1996.

I informed the landman of the chain of ownership of the property surrounding my section and my land and that no minerals were even reserved by the seller when I purchased my home 15 years ago.

The landman had a superior at his office check into it and agreed with me. Get a copy of the lease the landman maintains is still active and give it to the attorney who performed your mineral opinion so everyone will be on the same page when they address the problem.

I hope that you find out that you and your family own your mineral rights.

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Permalink Reply by reg on August 18, 2008 at 15:19

you can put a value on future royalties, the O&G companies are doing that each day.

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Permalink Reply by insomniacnla on August 18, 2008 at 14:52

Kittycatmama,

Gatrpaw is right. Your land would not happen to be over on Colquitt Road by any chance? The area is called Eagle's Nest or something like that.

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Permalink Reply by kittycatmama on August 18, 2008 at 15:06

Not in Eagle's Nest. We have the copy of the lease holding the land. It is very "grey," but gas co. and their attorney were afraid to proceed and pulled out of the deal.

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Permalink Reply by kittycatmama on August 18, 2008 at 15:10

Are there any attorneys on this board who can respond to this title problem?

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Permalink Reply by reg on August 18, 2008 at 15:24

send me an email, I hate to give general advice on a specific problem. I am very interested in your issue as I have had numerous calls on this issue since June.

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Permalink Reply by kittycatmama on August 18, 2008 at 16:01

The BIG PROBLEM is that the attorney is a friend of my folks. They won't sue him, but I think they would file on his e&o if it didn't have to come out of his pocket. They are just sick with worry about the whole thing

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Permalink Reply by Carter on August 18, 2008 at 16:02

Well I am a lawyer, but not in Louisiana, so I'm not giving you legal advice. However, the first thing that pops into my head is that the 1932 OGL probably covered the subject lands among thousands of acres of other lands across several sections. It was probably done on one OGL without any Pugh. Therefore, if any of the 4000 acres is still productive, it's holding all the rest of the lands also.

Second, I wouldn't trust most of the people on the ground in this play to run anything I had. Especially if they are in the field for CHK. I wouldn't trust his boss, either.

Go back to the attorney and tell him to recheck the minerals as to the 1932 OGL issue. I'm assuming he did not mention that the minerals were HBP when the property was bought.

Whether or not he made an error on the title check, I don't think its likely that you will prevail in getting the amount of money you might have got if you could have leased. First, the attorney may or may not have E&O. And even if he did, I just don't think its a strong case that you would be able to recover anything in the realm of $400K, much less future royalties. If you are concerned, I would no doubt go see a Louisiana attorney and get a legal opinion as to any liability/damages issues.

Best of luck to you.

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Permalink Reply by insomniacnla on August 18, 2008 at 16:22

If there was a mistake made, would the basis of the damages be the purchase price of the property, inclusive of mineral rights, less the value of the property exclusive of mineral rights?

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Permalink Reply by kittycatmama on August 19, 2008 at 4:30

I don't know. This is all new territory for us

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Permalink Reply by kittycatmama on August 19, 2008 at 2:51

This attorney missed the lease that covered the 4000 ac. He is now aware of it. He & my parents will have to work this out. A warning to everyone out there who is hiring a professional to do mineral searches: BEWARE, even pros make mistakes. It is very disillusioning. My parents are in in their early 70s. This money would have made a HUGE change in their lives. They could have traveled.
To the mineral searchers: TAKE YOUR TIME & GO BACK TO THE 1920s. All of you want to make an extra dollar, so you get in a hurry & do a poor job.

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Permalink Reply by J on August 19, 2008 at 3:51

Be careful using an attorney to check your title. Make sure you use a oil and gas attorney who has some experience or do it yourself. Also checking your title back to the twenties is not far enough, there are some reservations back to the 1800's (of course this is on the Texas side of things).

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