A Williams County judge has sided with a family whose lawsuit over oil and gas mineral rights under Lake Sakakawea reached the North Dakota Supreme Court in 2017.
An attorney for the family says he thinks the decision could impact hundreds of mineral owners with interests under Lake Sakakawea.
Northwest District Judge Paul Jacobson issued the decision late last week after the Supreme Court reversed his initial ruling and sent the case back for further consideration. In his new opinion, he concludes that “the State has no basis to continue claiming that it owns the Wilkinsons’ property.”
His initial ruling sided with the state, and the family appealed.
The lawsuit, filed in 2012, centers around who owns the mineral interest under land that the federal government acquired from J.T. and Evelyn Wilkinson in 1958 as part of the Garrison Dam project. The property consists of nearly 300 acres.
The plaintiffs, who are descendants of the Wilkinsons, maintain that the family retained the mineral rights.