This past week, in EOG Resources, Inc. v. Lucky Land Management, LLC, 2025 U.S. App. LEXIS 8738, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit reversed the decision of the district court granting a preliminary injunction that allowed EOG Resources, Inc. (EOG) to access the surface of a severed mineral estate property to cut down trees and construct multiple well pads.
In 2022, Lucky Land Management, LLC (Lucky Land) acquired the surface rights to property that was subject to (i) a prior severance of the mineral estate and (ii) an oil and gas lease entered into after the severance and held by EOG. Lucky Land intended to use the property as a hunting ground, while EOG planned to construct two well pads on the property to produce from both the property and adjoining lands. After failing to negotiate a surface use agreement with Lucky Land, EOG sought to enjoin Lucky Land from interfering with its use of the surface. The trial court granted EOG’s motion for a preliminary injunction and Lucky Land appealed. On appeal, a stay of the preliminary injunction was granted, but not before EOG had deforested 35 acres.
The court of appeals reversed the judgment of the trial court on two grounds. First, it determined that EOG was unlikely to succeed on the merits. The court explained that Ohio law presumes that a severance deed grants an easement to use the surface only in connection with mineral production under that same property. That is, unless there is clear language to the contrary, a mineral owner does not have the right to use the surface to develop the minerals from adjoining lands without the surface owner’s consent. Here, there was no clear language to overcome that presumption.
Second, the court of appeals found that a preliminary injunction cannot be granted unless the plaintiff will suffer irreparable harm, i.e., harm that is “not fully compensable by monetary damages.” Here, the trial court found that delaying EOG’s drilling schedule would, at worst, lead to lost profits. Because EOG’s harm was fully compensable by monetary damages, the court of appeals held that the grant of the preliminary injunction was in error. In fact, according to the court, the preliminary injunction actually caused Lucky Land to suffer an irreparable harm by allowing EOG to enter the property and deforest 35 acres.
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