Chris is a member in the firm’s Pittsburgh office and a part of the Energy Industry Team. He focuses his practice on oil and gas and energy where he primarily assists his clients in predicting, avoiding, and managing mineral disputes, including title, lease, right-of-way, and royalty disputes. With his background in mineral and real property title, Chris brings experience that is especially helpful in navigating the often-murky waters of Ohioโs Marketable Title Act and Dormant Mineral Act and their ever-changing jurisprudence.
In addition to his energy practice, Chrisโ nearly 15 years of practice features diverse experience in civil and commercial disputes, including website accessibility claims, easement and right-of-way disputes, real estate disputes, coal sterilization claims, commercial disputes and personal injury and toxic tort defense.
On the transactional side, Chris has experience managing time-sensitive due diligence projects across several deals that resulted in the acquisition of more than $1 billion in oil and gas assets, as well as closings and management of these assets.
Chris is an avid writer on Ohio and Pennsylvania oil and gas law developments, especially on Ohioโs Marketable Title Act and Dormant Mineral Act, and his writings have been published in Energy Law360. He has also written for and presented at various symposiums and continuing legal education seminars for the Institute on Energy Law and the Energy and Mineral Law Foundation on oil and gas related topics.
A life-long Pittsburgh resident, Chris lives in Mt. Lebanon (a suburb south of Pittsburgh) with his wife, two children, and two dogs.
Represented oil and gas company in dispute over obligation to recognize and pay overriding royalty interests that were created out of leases now expired but allegedly subject to an extension and renewal provision (anti-washout provision).
Represented oil and gas company against claims that surface owner/lessorโs search for holders for service with Notice of Abandonment by certified mail was inadequate under Ohioโs Dormant Mineral Act, and therefore any abandonment was void.
Represented non-operating leaseholder participating in a unit against lessorsโ claim that it allegedly failed to properly calculate royalties by not paying them and/or by deducting post-production costs.
Represented oil and gas company against claims that Ohioโs Marketable Title Act extinguished severed mineral interest.
Represented overriding royalty owner against claims of lease expiration due to alleged failure of well(s) to produce in paying quantities.
Represented oil and gas company against claims of improper royalty calculation, including claims that post-production costs should not be deducted, and claim that royalty failed to include liquid constituents.
Represented lessee against lessorsโ claim of breach of lease and termination of lease and pursue arbitration of lessorsโ claims under broad arbitration provision contained in the lease (and ignored by the lessors).
Represented pipeline owner/right-of-way grantee against former surface ownerโs claim that pipeline owner was obligated to reimburse for post-production costs even though surface owner sold property and did not reserve right under right-of-way agreement (i.e., no standing).
Represented oil and gas company against claims of trespass and conversion for producing oil and gas subject to title dispute.
Represented pipeline owner against mechanicโs lien improperly filed pursuant to Ohioโs mechanicโs lien oil and gas well subsection, instead of the normal requirements for a mechanicโs lien in Ohio.
Represented partial fee mineral owner against the Ohio Public Works Commissionโs claims that property ownerโs conveyance and the subsequent development of property violated the Clean Ohio Program requirements and must be unwound (and property owner must pay penalty).
Counseled oil and gas producer on anticipated development of property purchased with Clean Ohio funds, including anticipated ability to include via mandatory pooling and anticipated response and attempted enforcement by Ohio Public Works Commission.
Represented oil and gas company against prior lessorโs claim of deed forgery and mineral conversion against third parties, who represented to producer the change of ownership, and pursuit of claims against those third parties to the extent claims of forgery are proven.
Represented private equity in partial acquisition of well-bore interests as collateral for financing development.
Defended pipeline owner against coal companyโs claims of coal sterilization and right to โmouth of mineโ value of coal (i.e., without deducting for costs of production).
Defended and counseled retail companies, banks, and restaurants in connection with claims under Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act, and other state-law equivalents, that websites and mobile phone applications did not comply with the WCAG 2.0 Level AA accessibility standard.
Defended refinery against claim of personal injury resulting from allegedly faulty asphalt tank filling equipment.
Defended convenience store and gas station chain against neighboring ownerโs claim that it has a private easement across the gas station property even though the public was vacated by the city.
Defended refinery against neighboring landownerโs claim that it had an easement by necessity due to the lack of access to public roadways nearby.
Successfully defended mineral holding company against claim that restrictive covenants indeed prohibited development of oil and gas.
Counseled major American oil and gas producer on subsurface easement requirements for horizontal wells in Ohio.
Successfully defended major American oil and gas producer in quiet title action under Ohio Dormant Mineral Act in eastern Ohio.
Assisted American midstream operator in securing additional credit facility.
Managed and co-managed due diligence review and closings for acquisition of 25,000 acres of oil and gas assets in eastern Ohio for major U.S. exploration and production company.
Counseled mineral investment company on purchase of nonparticipating royalty interests in eastern Ohio.
Co-managed due diligence, closing, and asset management of fee mineral assets acquired in West Virginia.
Managed due diligence, closing, and asset management of fee mineral assets acquired in eastern Ohio.
Duquesne University School of Law, J.D., 2006
University of Pittsburgh, B.A., Anthropology & History, 2003,ย magna cum laude
Pennsylvania, 2006
Ohio, 2014
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania
Supreme Court of Ohio
Pennsylvania Bar Association
Allegheny County Bar Association
Ohio State Bar Association
Energy and Mineral Law Foundation
Presented on oil and gas title in Pennsylvania as part of presentation entitled โFracking โ The New โFโ Word And An Overview Of Oil And Gas Lawโ at Erie County Bar Association (Pennsylvania) on April 7, 2016.
Presented on โPitfalls of Representing Multiple Clients in Energy Transactionsโ at the Pennsylvania Bar Instituteโs 8thย Annual Oil and Gas Law Colloquium on July 27, 2016.
Presented on (1) โOil and Gas Title Endorsements and Exceptionsโ and (2) โQuiet Title of Mineral Interests โ A Practical Walk-Throughโ at National Business Instituteโs CLE on December 8, 2016 in Akron, Ohio.
Presented on โThe ADA and My Website: Risks and Requirementsโ at the Frost Brown Todd Annual CLE seminar in Cincinnati, Ohio, on November 10, 2016.
Published written materials for โOil and Gas Title Endorsements and Exceptionsโ and โQuiet Title of Mineral Interests โ A Practical Walk-Throughโ as part of CLE presentation on December 8, 2016. Available through NBI.
March 30, 2022 | Publications
On July 8, 2020, we reported on the Ohio Seventh District Court of Appeals decision in Fonzi v. Brow...
March 25, 2022 | Publications
In Peppertree Farms, L.L.C. v. Thonen, 2022-Ohio-395 (โPeppertree Iโ), the Ohio Supreme Court he...
March 3, 2022 | Publications
In its February 15, 2022, Memorandum Opinion,[1] the Supreme Court of Ohio revisited pre-1925 deed i...
February 11, 2022 | Publications
In Ullman v. Whitacre Enterprises, Inc., the Seventh District Court of Appeals dealt a blow to lease...
January 19, 2022 | Publications
Pro se litigants often inadvertently make the case for hiring a lawyer. But, unconstrained by the co...
November 22, 2021 | Publications
In yet another opinion on the due diligence requirements of a surface owner seeking abandonment of s...
November 15, 2021 | Publications
In actions to resolve oil and gas title disputes involving a multitude of far-flung individuals/heir...
October 5, 2021 | Publications
If a โMarket Enhancementโ addendum provision specifies that post-production costs can be deducte...
July 24, 2021 | Publications
Stonebridge Operating Co., LLC v. Antero Resources Corp.1ย is a reminder on the importance of carefu...
July 16, 2021 | Publications
[1] In what should be the final chapter of a lease-busting lawsuit [2] that started in 2014, the Fif...
April 27, 2021 | Publications
Tomechko is important because it adds to Ohioโs jurisprudence related to whether a conveyance or r...
April 16, 2021 | Publications
Through its March 22, 2021 Opinion and Judgment Entry in OโBradovich et al. v. Hess Ohio Developme...
April 16, 2021 | Publications
In its April 5, 2021 decision in McCombs, Sr. v. Dennis, 2021-Ohio-1181, 5th Dist. No. 2020CA00148, ...
April 15, 2021 | Publications
When it comes to claims that an interest was extinguished under Ohioโs Marketable Title Act, R.C. ...
April 12, 2021 | Publications
In its March 31, 2021 decision in OโKelley, Jr. v. Rothenbuhler,[1] interpreting a 1969 deed refer...
February 8, 2021 | Publications
In its January 22, 2021 opinion inย Lucas v. Whyte1, a 2-to-1 majority of the Court of Appeals of Oh...
December 30, 2020 | Publications
In reversing the 10th District Court of Appeals1 and reinstating the trial courtโs judgment, the O...
December 21, 2020 | Publications
Hot on the heels ofย West v. Bode, the other shoe in the world of Ohio oil and gas jurisprudence has...
December 4, 2020 | Publications
The first shoe in the world of Ohio oil and gas jurisprudence has dropped, with the Ohio Supreme Cou...
November 4, 2020 | Publications
Ohioโs oil and gas community keenly awaits the Ohio Supreme Courtโs decisions in Gerrity v. Cher...
July 8, 2020 | Publications
In its June 1, 2020 Fonzi v. Brown[1] decision, Ohioโs Seventh District Court of Appeals held that...
April 6, 2020 | Publications
Does an affidavit of heirship function as a title transaction? Would it constitute notice to a surfa...
December 4, 2019 | Publications
On November 26, 2019, in Browne v. Artex Oil Company, 2019-Ohio-4809, — N.E.3d — (Ohio 2...
July 11, 2019 | Publications
On June 28, 2019, the Court of Appeals for the Fifth District issued its opinion inย Gerrity v. John...
April 5, 2019 | Publications
On March 15, 2019, an en banc panel of Pennsylvaniaโs Commonwealth Court issued an opinion address...
September 28, 2018 | Publications
On September 25, 2018, the Supreme Court of Ohio issued its decision in Dundics v. Eric Petroleum Co...
April 3, 2018 | Publications
On April 2, 2018, in Briggs v. Southwestern Energy Production Company, 2018 PA Super 79, — A.3...
February 22, 2018 | Publications
On February 14, 2018, in Richard Baatz, et al. v. Columbia Gas Transmission, LLC, No. 1:14-cv-505, 2...
January 5, 2018 | Publications
On January 3, 2018, in a 6-1 decision in the case of Alford v. Collins-McGregor, Slip Opinion No. 20...
February 1, 2016 | Publications
On January 21, 2016, The Supreme Court of Ohio (the “Supreme Court”) issued its decision...