Bailey v. Anadarko E&P Co., LP

42 Pa. D. & C.5th 538
CourtPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Lycoming County
DecidedDecember 10, 2014
DocketNo. 08- 02,327
StatusPublished

This text of 42 Pa. D. & C.5th 538 (Bailey v. Anadarko E&P Co., LP) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Lycoming County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bailey v. Anadarko E&P Co., LP, 42 Pa. D. & C.5th 538 (Pa. Super. Ct. 2014).

Opinion

ANDERSON, J.,

Before the court is additional plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment, filed September 9, 2014. Argument on the motion was heard November 4, 2014.

On July 19, 2013, plaintiff and additional plaintiffs filed a second amended complaint in action to quiet title, alleging fee simple ownership of a 168 acre tract of land in Pine Township.1 Plaintiffs allege that although the [540]*540Hoyt defendants reserved all oil, gas and mineral rights to themselves when deeding the property to Elk Tanning Company in 1893, those rights were lost through either2 abandonment (Count 1), a tax sale in 1910 (Count 2), or a second tax sale in 1940 (Count 3), and, in Count 4, plaintiffs assert that defendants lack standing to challenge plaintiffs’title. In the instant motion for summaryjudgment, plaintiffs seeks judgment on Counts 2 and/or 3. Because the court finds the tax sale of 1910 extinguished the 1893 reservation, thus terminating any claims by defendants, additional defendants or counter-claim plaintiffs, only Count 2 will be addressed.

Plaintiffs’ claim stems from a tax sale held June 2, 1910, which they contend reunited the previously severed subsurface estate with the surface estate because the owner of the subsurface estate never reported the severance to the taxing authorities, the property was thus assessed and sold as a whole, and the property was never redeemed. Plaintiffs contend there are no issues of fact and they are entitled to judgment as a matter of law, citing Herder Spring Hunting Club v. Keller, 93 A.3d 465 (Pa. Super. 2014), in support of their position. Defendant objects to entry of summary judgment on various grounds and, in the process, argues that Herder Spring was wrongly decided. Such an argument to this court must necessarily fall on deaf ears and although defendant’s objections will be addressed seriatim, to the extent an objection requires [541]*541this court to ignore Herder Spring, it will be addressed no further.

Defendant first argues that the tax deed did not pass title to the subsurface estate because the taxing authorities lacked the statutory authority to assess the subsurface estate as such did not constitute “lands”, citing Coolspring Stone Supply v. Fayette County, 929 A.2d 1150 (Pa. 2007), and Independent Oil & Gas Association of Pennsylvania v. Board of Assessment Appeals of Fayette County, 814 A.2d 180 (Pa. 2002). While the court in Independent Oil & Gas did hold that there is no statutory authority for the assessment of real estate taxes on oil and gas interests, it later announced that such holding would not be applied retroactively. Oz Gas, Ltd. v. Warren Area School District, 938 A.2d 274 (Pa. 2007). Thus, at the time of the sale, the assessment was valid under the law then in effect, and this argument to the contrary is without merit.

Defendant similarly argues that the taxing authorities could not assess the subsurface estate as no production was occurring which would have provided a basis for valuation. This argument was rejected in Herder Spring, which looked to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s ruling in Bannard v. New York State Natural Gas Corporation, 293 A.2d 41 (Pa. 1972), that although mineral rights should not be taxed as if gas or oil existed if it did not, a tax sale believed to be improper because of overvaluation cannot be collaterally attacked fifty years later. Herder Spring, supra, fn. 11. In this matter, the attack comes over 100 years later and will not be countenanced.

Next defendant argues that any failure to report the severance cannot serve as a basis for the extinguishment of the subsurface rights through the tax sale as, under [542]*542a strict construction of the Act of 18063, there was no duty to report the severance. The court in Herder Spring specifically found, however, that “[t]he person who severed rights to unseated land was under an affirmative duty imposed by statute to inform the county commissioners or appropriate tax board of that severance, thereby allowing both portions of the property to be independently valued.” Id. at 471. This argument is therefore without merit.

Relatedly, defendant argues that plaintiffs have produced no evidence the property was unseated. Such is unnecessary, however, in light of defendants’ admission that it was.4

Defendant next argues that even if there was a duty to report the severed oil and gas estate to the taxing authorities, plaintiffs have offered no evidence that such notice was not given. Plaintiffs are entitled to a presumption, however, that “all actions, such as recording and assessing severed rights, that were required to be taken were taken.” Id. at 473. That is, if the severance had been reported, it would have been recorded and assessed. According to Herder Spring, “failing any affirmative proof to the contrary”, the court may conclude the severance was not reported. Id.

[543]*543Apparently recognizing this burden of proof, defendant offers evidence that Williamsport has suffered flooding in 1894, 1902, 1904 and 1910, that the courthouse has “flooded on several occasions,”5 and that “the Lycoming County Historical Society does not possess any notices to the board of commissioners dating from the late 1800’s to the early 1900’s that would have been given under the Act of March 28, 1806.”6 Defendant points to language in Herder Spring, that “[t]here is nothing in the certified record to suggest that the records of Centre County were ever subject to flood, fire, or some other calamity or negligence such that it might be presumed that relevant records were lost or destroyed. Absent such proof, we cannot presume such extraordinary events and the loss or destruction of records.” Id. at 472-73.7 Defendant contends the proffered evidence in the instant case is sufficient to entitle it to a presumption that the severance was reported but that record of such has been lost or destroyed. The court does not agree, for two reasons. First, defendant has not alleged anywhere in its pleadings that the severance was reported. Second, the court believes there must be evidence that the records were subject to a calamity, not merely that there was a calamity in the general location. The evidence offered by defendant in this matter is not sufficient to give rise to the sought-after presumption. In any event, Herder Spring requires the proof to be offered [544]*544within the two-year redemption period,8 which has not been done here.

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Related

North Laramie Land Co. v. Hoffman
268 U.S. 276 (Supreme Court, 1925)
Mullane v. Central Hanover Bank & Trust Co.
339 U.S. 306 (Supreme Court, 1950)
Texaco, Inc. v. Short
454 U.S. 516 (Supreme Court, 1982)
Mennonite Board of Missions v. Adams
462 U.S. 791 (Supreme Court, 1983)
Oz Gas, Ltd. v. Warren Area School District
938 A.2d 274 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 2007)
Independent Oil and Gas Association v. Board of Assessment
814 A.2d 180 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 2002)
Coolspring Stone Supply, Inc. v. County of Fayette
929 A.2d 1150 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 2007)
Herder Spring Hunting Club v. Keller
93 A.3d 465 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2014)
Tide Water Pipe Co. v. Bell
124 A. 351 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1924)
Bannard v. New York State Natural Gas Corp.
293 A.2d 41 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1972)
Morton v. Harris
9 Watts 319 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1840)

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Bluebook (online)
42 Pa. D. & C.5th 538, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bailey-v-anadarko-ep-co-lp-pactcompllycomi-2014.