EXCO Resources v. New Forestry, LLC - District Court holds that mineral rights may not include disposal wells

On July 25^th, the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania granted Defendant New Forestry's motion for summary judgment and denied Plaintiff EXCO's motion for summary judgment. New Forestry is the owner of the surface estate of the property in question and EXCO has control of the subsurface.  The court reasoned that EXCO cannot use the well for disposal for two reasons. First, the original deed which severed the estate did not grant property rights beyond extracting resources. Second, EXCO did not properly renew the license.

Written by Joseph Negaard, Research Assistant
Penn State Law, Agricultural Law Center

July 30, 2012

Click here for the full EXCO Opinion.