West Virginia - Mining/Oil & Gas

摘要

West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals Upholds Decision Denying Coal Lessor Damages from Mining Company Where Company Had Not Mined Coal for 28 Years In Bruce McDonald Holding Co. v. Addington, Inc., 825 S.E.2d 779 (W. Va. 2019), the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals issued a 4-1 decision affirming a trial court decision that a coal owner who had accepted annual minimum royalty payments under a coal lease over a 28-year period from a mining company that had mined no coal from the lease over the same period could not recover damages for the mining company's inactivity because the coal owner had effectively waived its right to bring a claim.