Terms Used In Montana Code > Title 82 > Chapter 10 > Part 5 - Surface Owner Damage and Disruption Compensation

• Agricultural production: means the production of any growing grass, crops, or trees attached to the surface of the land or farm animals with commercial value. See Montana Code 82-10-502
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Deed: The legal instrument used to transfer title in real property from one person to another.
• Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
• Gas: means all natural gases and all other fluid hydrocarbons, including methane gas or any other natural gas found in any coal formation, as produced at the wellhead and not defined as oil in subsection (3). See Montana Code 82-1-111
• Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). ^{Source: OCC}
• Lost land value: means the value of the highest and best reasonably available use of the land directly utilized by oil and gas operations and production, other than uses appurtenant to the mineral estate. See Montana Code 82-10-502
• Oil: means crude petroleum oil and other hydrocarbons, regardless of gravity, that are produced at the wellhead in liquid form by ordinary production methods and that are not the result of condensation of gas before or after it leaves the reservoir. See Montana Code 82-1-111
• Oil and gas developer or operator: means the person who acquires the oil and gas lease for the purpose of extracting oil and gas. See Montana Code 82-10-502
• Oil and gas operations: means the exploration for or drilling of an oil and gas well that requires entry upon the surface estate and is begun subsequent to June 1, 1981, and the production operations directly related to the exploration or drilling. See Montana Code 82-10-502
• Person: includes a corporation or other entity as well as a natural person. See Montana Code 1-1-201
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• Personal property: means money, goods, chattels, things in action, and evidences of debt. See Montana Code 1-1-205
• Process: means a writ or summons issued in the course of judicial proceedings. See Montana Code 1-1-202
• Property: means real and personal property. See Montana Code 1-1-205
• Reasonably available use: means the present use or a future use for which a permit, if necessary, has been issued under applicable law. See Montana Code 82-10-502
• Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
• State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the territories. See Montana Code 1-1-201
• Surface owner: means the person who holds record title to or has a purchaser's interest in the surface of the land. See Montana Code 82-10-502