Richard G. Gawenis Appellant v. Arkansas Oil & Gas Commission, and Seeco, Inc. Appellees

Summary

The court affirmed the circuit court’s approval of the Commission’s forced integration of Gawenis’s unleased mineral interests into a drilling unit. It held that the integration order was a constitutional exercise of the State’s police power rather than a compensable taking, because Gawenis could lease his interests, participate in drilling, or receive compensation under the order. The court also held that he had no constitutional right to a jury trial because he did not establish that the integration constituted a corporate appropriation of his property. Justice Josephine Linker Hart, dissenting, would have held that secondary recovery methods appropriated Gawenis’s property and entitled him to a jury trial on full compensation.