McGinnis v. Cayton

I concur in the majority result but not in its limited scope. The opinion works an injustice “in the name of the law,” ignores equitable principles, and hurts hundreds of West Virginia landowners.

Research and experience teach that the McGinnis lease’s type of royalty provision — a fractional interest in oil production and a flat rate payment per gas well — was typical in old oil and gas leases.1 See, for example, excerpted lease provisions in Lovett v. Eastern Oil Co., 68 W.Va. 667, 70 S.E. 707 (1911), and South Penn Oil Co. v. Snodgrass, 71 W.Va. 438, 76 S.E. 961 (1931). See generally,…