Real Property: Inverse Condemnation-Oil and Gas Lease

Where in a dispute over whether an oil and gas lease terminated for lack of oil production, an oil company filed an inverse condemnation claim against the city after the city denied its applications for a conditional use permit and conceptual development plan, the trial court did not err in allowing the city to challenge the lease’s validity, but the court erred in granting summary judgment to the city on the inverse condemnation claim because the evidence created a genuine issue of material fact as to whether the wells failed to produce oil throughout the life of the lease, and the judgment is reversed and remanded because the court also erred in concluding that the lease had terminated for non-production without determining that the lease had been abandoned.

Judgment is reversed and remanded.

JTC Oil Company Inc. v. City of Grandview (MLW No. 74921/Case No. WD82859 – 15 pages) (Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District, Ardini Jr., J.) Appealed from circuit court, Jackson County, Burnett, J. (Julie E. Parisi for appellants) (Colin W. McClain, Timothy J. Kingsbury, Joseph S. Gall, Jonathan M. Soper and Lauren E. McClain for respondent).