Roberts v. Unimin Corp., No. 16-4172 (8th Cir. 2018)
Annotate this CasePresent lessors sought a declaratory judgment against Unimin Corporation, the present lessee, that the lease at issue created a tenancy at will. The Eighth Circuit affirmed the district court's grant of summary judgment to Unimin, ruling that the lease had created a determinable leasehold, not a tenancy at will, and so Unimin did not unjustly enrich itself by staying in possession. Under Arkansas law, the lease specified that the lessee may stay in possession until certain activities (mining silica in this case) ceased, and thus created a determinable estate.
Court Description: Arnold, Author, with Smith, Chief Judge, and Kelly, Circuit Judge] Civil case - Minerals leases. The district court did not err in determining that the lease provision, which provided that defendant's leasehold would endure as long as siliceous materials were shipped from its mills and that certain types of mining activities took place on plaintiffs' land, was a determinable leasehold and not a tenancy at will under Arkansas law.
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