Briggs v. Southwestern Energy, Aplt.
--- Pa. ---, --- A.3d --- (2020) (2020)
Premium Feature
Subscribe to Lexplug to listen to the Case Podcast.
Rule of Law:
The rule of capture protects an energy developer from trespass liability for draining oil or gas from beneath another's property through hydraulic fracturing, provided the drilling and fracturing activities are confined to the developer's own property and do not result in a physical invasion of the neighboring subsurface estate.
Facts:
- Adam, Paula, Joshua, and Sarah Briggs (the Briggs) own an eleven-acre parcel of real estate in Harford Township, Susquehanna County.
- The Briggs have not leased their property to any entity for the purpose of natural gas production.
- Southwestern Energy Production Company (Southwestern) leases an adjacent tract of land for natural gas extraction.
- Southwestern maintains wellbores on its leased parcel and has used the process of hydraulic fracturing to extract natural gas from the Marcellus Shale formation.
- The Briggs alleged that Southwestern has extracted natural gas from under their land.
Procedural Posture:
- The Briggs family sued Southwestern Energy Production Company in the Susquehanna County Court of Common Pleas (trial court), alleging trespass and conversion.
- The trial court granted summary judgment in favor of Southwestern, holding that the rule of capture barred the Briggs' claims.
- The Briggs family, as appellants, appealed to the Superior Court of Pennsylvania (intermediate appellate court).
- The Superior Court reversed the trial court's order, finding that the rule of capture may not apply to hydraulic fracturing and that the Briggs' allegations were sufficient to raise an issue of trespass.
- Southwestern, as appellant, was granted an appeal by the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania (highest court).
Premium Content
Subscribe to Lexplug to view the complete brief
You're viewing a preview with Rule of Law, Facts, and Procedural Posture
Issue:
Does the rule of law of capture apply to oil and gas produced from wells completed using hydraulic fracturing and preclude trespass liability for draining oil or gas from under a nearby property, where the drilling and injection of hydraulic fracturing fluids occur solely on or beneath the driller's own property?
Opinions:
Majority - Chief Justice Saylor
Yes, the rule of capture applies and precludes trespass liability under these circumstances. The rule of capture immunizes a developer from liability for draining fugacious minerals that migrate from a neighbor's land as long as there is no physical trespass. This principle applies even when artificial means, such as pumps or hydraulic fracturing, are used to stimulate production, provided those activities are confined to the developer's own property. The court rejected the Superior Court's distinction between 'natural' and 'artificially-induced' flow, reasoning that all drilling artificially stimulates flow by creating low-pressure areas. Therefore, hydraulic fracturing conducted solely on a developer's property is not a trespass merely because it causes drainage from an adjacent property; a plaintiff must plead and prove an actual physical subsurface intrusion, such as fracturing fluids or proppants crossing the property line.
Analysis:
This decision reaffirms the vitality of the common law rule of capture in the modern era of unconventional oil and gas development through hydraulic fracturing. It clarifies that fracking is not a per se exception to the rule and maintains the traditional requirement of a physical intrusion for a subsurface trespass claim. The ruling places a significant evidentiary burden on landowners, who must now prove not only drainage but also that the fracturing process itself physically crossed their property boundaries, a task that likely requires complex and expensive expert testimony. By declining to create a new judicial exception for fracking, the court signals that policy changes regarding landowner protections in the context of unconventional drilling are a matter for the legislature, not the courts.
