Right of Way - Don't Give up Your Rights so Easily

So many people have found that if you sign a Right of Way for a pipeline, you lose your rights to that land forever, yet still pay the taxes on it each year.
Pipeline Right Of Ways – How to Prevent Losing Yours
Posted by Ron Hale on August 6, 2016 at 9:21pm in General Shale DiscussionsSend Message View Discussions
When that Oklahoma Pipeline company landman shows up and tells you he will pay you $10 per foot for the first two pipelines that are placed across your land, consider the following:
A Pipeline Row must have a survey attached to limit the pipeline company to the area you agreed upon for pipeline placement. If they don’t know where the pipeline will run but ask you to sign their one page Right Of Way contract, you are a target for having your ROW stolen. This has happened all over Ohio, West Virginia and Pennsylvania, and will continue to happen as Oil & Gas moves West in Ohio and South in WV.
Also, never sign a ROW contract without Legal Representation reviewing the contract first.
If the landman says “ We don’t negotiate” he is doing a first through sweep to find out who is weak minded enough to sign his ROW contract.
Examples of Landowners who lost their ROWs:
One landowner that I know lost his Right Of Way, but doesn’t know it yet. He was told that the company needed a Road across his land, so they wrote a 2 Year Road ROW with the option to extend the ROW within that 2 years. A year later they extended the Road Row into “Perpetuity” and stated that all Rights of the Landowner were now the companies Rights. Those Rights include any Pipeline ROWs that are needed in the future.
An Elderly Farmer I met, was told in 2013 that he would be paid by this Oklahoma Pipeline Company for the first two pipelines placed across his land. The Landowner agreed which can be considered a Legal Verbal Contract in Ohio. The Elderly Farmer told me several times that he agreed to be paid for 2 pipelines, and asked me why he was only paid for the first pipeline and not the 2nd and a Fiber Optic Cable that was run across his land.
I looked at his written contract which stated he was paid per foot of Right Of Way. What these thieves did to this Elderly Ohio Farmer, was change the contract by putting a different written contract in front of him at the Bank where the Notary Witnessed the signature, after making a legal verbal contract for two pipeline payments. This is Theft by Deception in Ohio, a Criminal Matter.
Most states protect those over 65, Ohio also does, unless there is an Oil and Gas Related company or person doing the theft. The Farmer was in his 70s in 2013 at the time of the theft. The Jefferson County Protective Services Rep. told me this was a Civil Matter. I told him this is a Criminal Matter.
In both of these cases the landowners were never asked to sell their Right Of Ways, but both lost their Right Of Ways due to wording on the written contract. Does a bogus written contract always overwrite a Verbal Contract in Ohio? I’m betting it doesn’t.
Those of you who have lost your Right Of Way in a similar manner to this Oklahoma Pipeline Company, Let’s take back our Right of Ways In Ohio. Let's find a Lawyer who will take up this issue and let's put it in writing in a Class Action Complaint.
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