Opinion ID: 1226422
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Abandonment of the Defendant's Personal Property

Text: The defendants contend that the circuit court erred in finding that, in addition to abandoning the wells, the defendants abandoned all of their equipment and personal property that was located on the plaintiffs' property and utilized in connection with the production of oil and gas. The circuit court's summary judgment orders gives the ownership of this equipment to the plaintiffs. The defendants argue that it is unfair to deny the defendants a reasonable time in which to reclaim their equipment. The defendants take the position that the circuit court should have ordered the defendants to plug the wells and remove the equipment, or allow the equipment to remain on the property and require the plaintiff-lessors to pay the defendants for the reasonable value of the equipment. In Syllabus Points 1 and 2 of Gartland v. Hickman, 56 W.Va. 75, 49 S.E. 14 (1904), we held that after an oil and gas lease terminates, the lessee has a reasonable period of time in which to remove any equipment or other personal property from the leased premises. What constitutes a reasonable period of time is normally a question of fact. We stated: 1. The owner of land executes a lease thereon for oil and gas purposes, by which it is agreed that the lessees shall have the privilege at any time to remove therefrom all machinery and fixtures placed on said premises. Under this lease, the lessees and their assignees, for the purpose of exploring for oil and gas, placed on the land an engine, wooden oil-well rig, wooden oil tanks, casing, pipes, rubber belt, and other appliances of like character, necessary for the prosecution of that work. Afterwards the lease was forfeited and terminated for the nonpayment of rental. Held, that said machinery and fixtures did not become parts of the freehold, and that said lessees, or the owners of the machinery and fixtures, had a reasonable time after the termination of said lease in which to remove said property from the land. 2. What is a reasonable time for the removal is to be determined from all the facts and circumstances of the case. However, we believe that the rule espoused in Gartland v. Hickman has been overruled by the adoption of W.Va.Code, 36-4-9a [1994]. In addition to creating a presumption that a well has been abandoned, that statute also specifically states that if a lessee under an oil or gas lease fails to produce and sell, or produce and use for its own purpose, oil and gas for a period in excess of 24 months, there is a rebuttable legal presumption that the lessee intended to abandon any oil and/or gas well equipment situate on said leased premises, including casing, rods, tubing, pumps, motors, lines, tanks, separators and any other equipment, or both, used in the production of any oil and/or gas from any well or wells on said leasehold estate. We therefore hold that W.Va.Code, 36-4-9a creates a rebuttable legal presumption that if a lessee fails to produce and sell (or produce and use for the lessee's own purposes) oil or gas from the leased premises, pursuant to an oil and gas lease, for a period greater than 24 months, then the lessee shall be deemed to have intended to abandon any oil or gas well equipment, including casing, rods, tubing, pumps, motors, lines, tanks, separators, or any other equipment used in the production of oil or gas from any well or wells located on the premises. To the extent that Gartland v. Hickman, 56 W.Va. 75, 49 S.E. 14 (1904) conflicts with this statute, it is hereby overruled. Analyzing the circuit court's ruling in light of W.Va.Code, 36-4-9a, we hold that the circuit court properly granted ownership of the equipment left by the defendants to the plaintiffs. The defendants had neither operated the gas wells nor removed their equipment and other personal property used in the production of gas for a period of approximately 8 yearsa period well in excess of the 24 months required by W.Va.Code, 36-4-9a and were therefore properly presumed to have abandoned any equipment or other personal property used in the production of oil or gas from the wells located on the plaintiffs' properties. As stated previously, the defendants failed, pursuant to W.Va. Code, 36-4-9a, to introduce any evidence to rebut the presumption of an intent to abandon both the wells and the equipment. [7] The plaintiffs were therefore statutorily entitled to take possession and ownership of the equipment left on their property. The circuit court's granting of summary judgment to the plaintiffs on this question must therefore be affirmed as well.