On June 5, 2013, the United States District Court for the
Middle District of Pennsylvania ruled on a gas producer’s motion to dismiss a
landowner’s claims to quiet title and for slander of title involving a leasing
dispute in Wyoming County, PA. Plaintiff Robert Lincoln was approached by
Defendant Magnum Land Services in February of 2008. Defendant offered to lease
Plaintiff’s sub-surface oil and gas rights. Plaintiff altered the terms of the
lease, signing and returning it to Defendant. In March, Plaintiff contacted the
Defendant and stated he was withdrawing the lease, having not heard from
Defendant. Two months later, Defendant sent Plaintiff a check for $71,362.50,
which plaintiff voided and returned.
In August, 2008,
Plaintiff leased their oil and gas rights to a third party, Chief Exploration,
and recorded the lease with the county recorder. In August of 2009, Defendant
recorded the altered February 2008 lease, and subsequently assigned the oil and
gas rights to Belmont Resources, who assigned to Sinclair, and further
Chesapeake and Statoil. In September of 2009, Plaintiff learned Defendant had
recorded the altered agreement as a lease, and believing it would cast a cloud
on his title and prevent participation in a Wyoming County Landowner’s Group
deal, filed an Affidavit affecting title. In December, Plaintiff mailed the Affidavit
and a quitclaim deed to Chesapeake. In September of 2011, Chesapeake and
Statoil released the oil and gas rights via the quitclaim deed.
The court granted the motion to dismiss Plaintiff’s claim of
quiet title, because Chesapeake and Statoil released and surrendered the oil
and gas rights of the property. The court explained that because this release
had occurred prior to the filing of the complaint there was no cloud of title
on the property.
Further, the court granted the motion to dismiss Plaintiff’s
claim of slander of title because the statute of limitations for slander of
title had expired. A claim of slander of title has a statute of limitations of
one year from when the cloud of title arises. Here, when Defendant filed the
counteroffer as a lease, the period began. Plaintiff did not include the slander
of title claim until amending his complaint three months after the statutory
period elapsed, therefore, it was dismissed.
Written by: Garrett Lent, Research Assistant
Penn State Law, Agricultural Law Center
June 2013
Written by: Garrett Lent, Research Assistant
Penn State Law, Agricultural Law Center
June 2013
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