Mosser v. Denbury Resources, Inc.
United States District Court for the District of North Dakota
112 F. Supp. 3d 906 (2015)
Mosser (plaintiff) bought a surface estate already subject to an oil and gas lease granting the lessee broad surface and subsurface drilling rights; after the well stopped producing oil and gas in 2006, the lessee -- whose interest Denbury Resources (defendant) later acquired -- got state regulatory approval to convert the well into a salt-water injection well, with the first injection occurring in 2011. Mosser sued Denbury for trespass and nuisance, and both sides moved for summary judgment.
Whether a mineral-interest owner has the right to inject salt water generated from drilling operations into the subsurface pore space, unless the surface owner can demonstrate under the accommodation doctrine that the surface owner uses or imminently plans to use the pore space.