The Daily Law Blog

An Ohio state law was passed in 2004 that gave the State of Ohio sole and exclusive authority to regulate the location of oil and gas wells in the state.  Competing with this state law was a municipal ordinance that attempted to block drilling activities within Akron Ohio.  All this came to a head when Beck Energy Corporation received a state permit to drill a traditional well in the Akron suburb of Munroe Falls. The city filed a lawsuit against Beck seeking an injunction to prevent Beck from drilling in Akron and alleged that Beck illegally violated the prohibitive local ordinance.  The trial court granted the injunction, but the court of appeals reversed.  In a 4-3 decision, the Ohio Supreme Court affirmed the court of appeals decision, disagreed with the city, and ruled that the city cannot block hydraulic fracturing or drilling with such a local ordinance.  According to the court, state law did not grant a city the power to discriminate against or unfairly...

With our firm centrally located in Western Arkansas, it's been enjoyable being able to represent producers in Arkansas and Oklahoma as they have produced natural resources from the Fayetteville Shale and the Woodford Shale .  Shale gas and tight oil production has assisted the United States in becoming energy independent over the past few years and here is an interesting  article  that briefly discusses how the United States is one of only four other countries actively producing from these formations. C. Michael Daily  is an attorney with the long-established law firm of  Dail y & Woods, P.L.L.C . and is licensed to practice in the states of Arkansas, Oklahoma, North Dakota and Wyoming. Mr. Daily can be contacted by telephone at 479-242-3953, by email at  mdaily@dailywoods.com , or by regular post at 58 South 6th Street, Fort Smith, Arkansas 72902.  You can follow Mr. Daily via social network using any of the social network l...

I am frequently asked to assist families with ancillary probates in oil and gas producing states such as Arkansas, Oklahoma, Wyoming and North Dakota.  Wills, trusts and probate law can be complex enough when an executor only has to manage assets in one state.  Managing assets in multiple states can be a very onerous task.    It certainly helps to have counsel who can navigate the rules associated with a probate in each jurisdiction. Probates that occur in other states outside of the state where the decedent passed away (the domiciliary jurisdiction/estate) are called ancillary probates, or ancillary estates.  Here is an example of a common scenario that may require an ancillary proceeding:  A husband dies in one state, lets say Florida, owning a beach house, a bank account, and a car that was titled in Florida, and he also passed  away owning a few oil and gas properties in various formations that were scattered around Arkansas (Fayetteville shale),...

The 54th Annual Natural Resources Law Institute will be held in Hot Springs, Arkansas February 26, and 27, 2015 at the Hot Springs Convention Center.  The Embassy Suites Hotel is the sponsoring hotel.  This event is the marquee oil and gas industry and legal convention in Arkansas, and annually boasts the second largest attendance of any other Arkansas Bar Association meeting (second only to the Association's annual meeting). I'm honored to be one of the program planners this year.  The program is as follows: February 26 8:00 - 9:00 a.m. Annual Oil and Gas Law Update, Tom Daily , Daily & Woods, PLLC 9:00 - 9:30 a.m. Oil and Gas Regulatory, Update Shane Khoury, Arkansas Oil and Gas Commission Alan York, Arkansas Oil and Gas Commission 9:30 - 10:00 a.m.  Litigating Common Oil and Gas Title Suits, Matt Davis, Esq. 10:15 - 11:15 a.m. Wellbore Assignments, Frank Hinton, Elias, Books, Brown & Nelson PC 11:15 - 12:15 p.m. The History of Oil and Gas Co...

Tonight, I'll be speaking at the Central Arkansas Landman Association meeting in Conway, Arkansas at Centennial Valley Country Club.  I will be speaking on trespass and horizontal drilling.  From my research on the issue, I have found that Arkansas' jurisprudence is lacking (a good thing for Arkansas producers, since there have not been many claims), but there are a few Arkansas cases involving salt-water disposal wells, as well as some guidance from Texas and Louisiana that may offer a glimpse into how an Arkansas Court would address a claim.  I'll try to post some thoughts in the coming days about this area of oil and gas law. C. Michael Daily  is an oil, gas and mineral law attorney with the long-established law firm of  Dail y & Woods, P.L.L.C . and is licensed to practice oil, gas, and mineral law in Arkansas, Oklahoma, North Dakota and Wyoming. Oil, gas and mineral law attorney C. Michael Daily can be contacted by telephone at 479-242-3953 , by ...