2017 Mississippi Code
Title 53 - Oil, Gas, and Other Minerals
Chapter 3 - Development, Production and Distribution of Gas and Oil
In General
§ 53-3-19. Procedure for seizure and sale of illegal gas and oil as contraband

Apart from, and in addition to, any other remedy or procedure which may be available to the state oil and gas board, or any penalty which may be sought against or imposed upon any person with respect to violations relating to illegal oil, illegal gas, or illegal product, all illegal oil, illegal gas and illegal product shall, except under such circumstances as are stated herein, be contraband and shall be seized and sold, and the proceeds applied as herein provided. Such sale shall not take place unless the court shall find, in the proceeding provided for in this paragraph, that the commodity involved is contraband. Whenever the board believes that illegal oil, illegal gas or illegal product is subject to seizure and sale, as provided herein, it shall, through the attorney general, bring a civil action in rem for that purpose in the circuit court of the county where the commodity is found, or the action may be maintained in connection with any suit or cross-action for injunction or for penalty relating to any prohibited transaction involving such illegal oil, illegal gas or illegal product. Any interested person who may show himself to be adversely affected by any such seizure and sale shall have the right to intervene in such suit to protect his rights.

The action referred to above shall be strictly in rem and shall proceed in the name of the state as plaintiff against the illegal oil, illegal gas or illegal product mentioned in the complaint, as defendant, and no bond or bonds shall be required of the plaintiff in connection therewith. Upon the filing of the complaint, the clerk of the court shall issue a summons directed to the sheriff of the county, or to such officer or person as the court may authorize to serve process, requiring him to summon any and all persons (without undertaking to name them) who may be interested in the illegal oil, illegal gas, or illegal product mentioned in the complaint to appear and answer within thirty days after the issuance and service of such summons. The summons shall contain the style and number of the suit and a very brief statement of the nature of the cause of action. It shall be served by posting one copy thereof at the courthouse door of the county where the commodity involved in the suit is alleged to be located and by posting another copy thereof near the place where the commodity is alleged to be located. Copy of such summons shall be posted at least five days before the return day stated therein, and the posting of such copy shall constitute constructive possession of such commodity by the state. A copy of the summons shall also be published once each week for three weeks in some newspaper published in the county where the suit is pending or having a bona fide circulation therein. No judgment shall be pronounced by any court condemning such commodity as contraband until after the lapse of five days from the last publication of said summons. Proof of service of said summons, and the manner thereof, shall be as provided by general law.

Where it appears by a verified pleading on the part of the plaintiff, or by affidavit, or affidavits, that grounds for the seizure and sale exist, the clerk, in addition to the summons, shall issue an order of seizure, which shall be signed by the clerk and bear the seal of the court. Such order of seizure shall specifically describe the illegal oil, illegal gas, or illegal product, so that the same may be identified with reasonable certainty. It shall direct the sheriff to whom it is addressed to take into his custody, actual or constructive, the illegal oil, illegal gas or illegal product, described therein, and to hold the same subject to the orders of the court. Said order of seizure shall be executed as a writ of attachment is executed. No bond shall be required before the issuance of such order of seizure, and the sheriff shall be responsible upon his official bond for the proper execution thereof. For his service hereunder, the sheriff shall receive a fee as in like cases of seizure of personal property and to be assessed as other cost in the cause.

Sales of illegal oil, illegal gas or illegal product, seized under the authority of this section, and notice of such sales, shall be in accordance with the laws of this state relating to the sale of personal property under execution. For his services hereunder the sheriff shall receive a fee and expenses in like sales of personal property to be paid out of the proceeds of the sale or sales to be fixed by the court ordering such sale.

The court may order that the commodity be sold in specified lots or portions, and at specified intervals, instead of being sold at one time. Title to the amount sold shall pass as of the date of the act which is found by the court to make the commodity contraband. The judgment shall provide for payment of the proceeds of the sale into the state oil and gas fund, after first deducting the costs in connection with the proceedings and sale, and after paying to any royalty owner intervening as an interested party in the suit, the value of his interest in the said oil or gas, provided he has established his title to the said oil or gas royalty interest. The amount sold shall be treated as legal oil, legal gas or legal product, as the case may be, in the hands of the purchaser, but the purchaser and the commodity shall be subject to all applicable laws, and rules, regulations and orders with respect to further sale or purchase or acquisition, and with respect to the transportation, refining, processing, or handling in any other way, of the commodity purchased.

The producer, owner, or any other party contesting the validity of any such seizure and having an interest in securing the release of the seized oil, gas or other product, may obtain the release thereof upon furnishing a bond issued by a corporate surety company, duly qualified to do business in the state in an amount double the current market value of the oil, gas or other product held under seizure, which bond shall be conditioned and approved in the same manner as a replevin bond.

Nothing in this section shall deny or abridge any cause of action a royalty owner, or a lien holder, or any other claimant, may have, because of the forfeiture of the illegal oil, illegal gas, or illegal product, against the person whose act resulted in such forfeiture. All oil, gas or other illegal product sold as provided in this section shall be sold in like cases of personal property sold under execution.