Clifton G. Valentine v. Sugar Rock, Inc. and Gerald D. and Teresa D. Hall

Justice KETCHUM:

The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit has certified a complex question which intertwines issues about partnership interests in oil and gas wells, the Statute of Frauds, the common law “mining partnership,” and the West Virginia Revised Uniform, Partnership Act (W.Va. Code § 47B-1-1 et seq.). At its heart, the question asks us to differentiate between a partner in an ordinary, general partnership that has as its principal business mining or operating oil and gas wells, and a partner in a common law “mining partnership.” While the two phrases sound the same,…