A partial title search was not enough for an energy company to meet its due diligence burden to overcome a bad-faith trespass claim, the state Superior Court has ruled.
A unanimous three-judge panel ruled Monday in Sabella v. Appalachian Development that the owners of the Pine Ridge Energy company had constructive notice that plaintiff Dennis Sabella owned a competing title on the subsurface rights to 66 acres of land that the company was drilling on. The decision vacates a ruling from the trial court, which had held the energy company was only acting in bad faith after its owners, Brian C. and Lisa M. Haner, had met with Sabella, but failed to inform him of the existing wells and continued to drill new sites.
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