Ohio Supreme Court Further Clarifies ‘Reasonable Diligence’ Standard under the Ohio Dormant Mineral Act

Ohio Supreme Court Further Clarifies ‘Reasonable Diligence’ Standard under the Ohio Dormant Mineral Act

OVERVIEW:

On March 24, 2022, the Supreme Court of Ohio issued its decision in Fonzi v. Brown and Fonzi v. Miller, Slip Opinion No. 2022-Ohio-901, discussing the level of due diligence required of a surface owner to provide notice to a severed mineral interest owner in order to abandon said mineral interest under the Ohio Dormant Mineral Act (DMA). The court held that a surface owners did not exercise reasonable due diligence when they failed to conduct a public record search in the county where the last known mineral interest holder resided, despite having knowledge of the same, and instead only conducted a search in the county in which the subject land is situated.

To read the full alert and understand the implications of this decision click here.