Oryn Treadway Sheffield, Jr. v. Consolidation Coal Company, No. 11-2277 (4th Cir. 2012)
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UNPUBLISHED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT No. 11-2277 ORYN TREADWAY SHEFFIELD, JR. TRUST; JOHN TOLMAN SHEFFIELD TRUST, Plaintiffs - Appellants, JOHN TOLMAN SHEFFIELD; ORYN TREADWAY SHEFFIELD, JR., Trustees Appellants, v. CONSOLIDATION COAL COMPANY, Defendant Appellee. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia, at Abingdon. James P. Jones, District Judge. (1:11-cv-00049-JPJ-PMS) Argued: October 25, 2012 Decided: November 21, 2012 Before TRAXLER, Chief Judge, and WILKINSON and AGEE, Circuit Judges. Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion. ARGUED: Ilya I. Berenshteyn, THE SENTER LAW FIRM, PC, Bristol, Tennessee, for Appellants. James Robert Creekmore, THE CREEKMORE LAW FIRM, PC, Blacksburg, Virginia, for Appellee. ON BRIEF: Blair N. C. Wood, THE CREEKMORE LAW FIRM, PC, Blacksburg, Virginia; Jonathan T. Blank, Lisa M. Lorish, MCGUIREWOODS, LLP, Charlottesville, Virginia, for Appellee. Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit. 2 PER CURIAM: The Oryn Treadway Sheffield, Jr. Trust and the John Tolman Sheffield Trust dismissing ( Appellants ) their complaint ( Consolidation ). appeal against a district Consolidation court Coal order Company Finding no error, we affirm. Appellants brought this action in federal district court against Consolidation, asserting causes of action for trespass, conversion, damages. assumpsit, and negligence, and seeking money Their amended complaint alleges the following facts. By deed dated December 4, 1937, Prater Coal Land Company conveyed to H. Claude Pobst and F.H. Combs all of the coal, oil and gas as well as all such other minerals, metal and timber as [Prater Coal Land Company] may own or be entitled to in or upon the lands hereinafter identified, together with all rights, privileges and easements in, on or under [such lands located in Buchanan County, Virginia, as described]. J.A. 71. On December 28, 1937, Pobst and Combs then conveyed by deed to Levisa together Coal with Corporation all all rights, the coal, privileges and metals and easements timber, incident thereto, in, on or under the parcels that the December 4 Deed described (the Buchanan parcels ). J.A. 76. Following that conveyance, Pobst and Combs each retained a 50% interest in the oil, gas, and all other such minerals in the Buchanan parcels. 3 On November 16, 1956, Levisa Coal leased to Island Creek Coal Company ( Island Creek Coal ) the rights to remove the coal from the Buchanan parcels and to make any use of the leased premises which [Island Creek Coal] may deem needful convenient in carrying on its mining or other operations. or J.A. 61 (internal quotation marks omitted). Pobst died in 1965 and devised the remainder of his estate to his second wife, Jessie Maie Pobst. As part of the settlement of an apparent dispute concerning the will, Jessie Maie Pobst granted her late husband s children a one-half undivided interest in all of the real property of which . . . Claude Pobst died Buchanan County. seized J.A. 37. and possessed, and situate[d] in As a result, Jessie Maie Pobst was left with a 25% interest in all other such minerals in the Buchanan parcels. When Jessie Maie Pobst died in 1989, her will provided for two testamentary trusts, namely, the two Appellants herein, the Oryn Treadway Sheffield Sheffield, Trust. Her Jr., interest Trust in the and the Buchanan John Tolman parcels thus passed to Appellants, and it is via this chain of title, that together they claim a 25% interest in all . . . the Buchanan parcels other than timber. 4 coal, oil, minerals in gas, metals or Island Creek Coal mined coal through its VP3 Mine until 1998. from the Buchanan parcels The amended complaint alleges that, during the time Island Creek Coal was utilizing the VP3 Mine, minerals such as ore, rock, crystalline element, were removed. coal mining in the VP3 Mine or any other J.A. 62-63. ceased in homogeneous While active 1988, the amended complaint does not allege that there is no coal remaining or that the mine was abandoned. Island Creek Coal is a subsidiary of Consolidation, which owns the Buchanan No. 1 Mine, located not far from the VP3 Mine. The complaint alleges that around 2006 Consolidation Coal began depositing wastewater from the Buchanan No. 1 Mine into the underground voids of the VP3 Mine. Consolidation moved to dismiss the amended complaint for lack of standing and for failure to state a claim. court granted the motion. The district The court concluded that Appellants claims centered around their assertions that their interest in all other such minerals in the parcels gives them an ownership interest in the voids in the VP3 Mine and that Consolidation had harmed Appellants mineral interest. The court determined that Appellants in failed to allege facts their complaint plausibly established either of these propositions. that As such, it ruled that Appellants lack standing to bring any claims based on an ownership interest in the VP3 Mine voids and that the 5 amended complaint fails to state a claim against Consolidation based on [Appellants ] minerals. Consolidation Oryn Coal ownership Treadway Co., 819 interest Sheffield, F. Supp. 2d in the Jr., 625, 631 other Trust v. (W.D. Va. 2011). Appellants now appeal the dismissal of their complaint. Having considered the parties briefs, the joint appendix, and the oral arguments of counsel, we find no error and affirm on the reasoning of the district court. AFFIRMED 6
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