## Facts

- In 1943, a predecessor mineral owner conveyed the surface estate but excepted all mineral and mining rights and reserved the right to mine “without leaving supports” to prevent surface damage; the reservation was recorded and stated to run with the land.
- U.S. Steel (later USX) acquired the mineral estate in 1955 and mined beneath the subdivision from about 1968 to 1975; the mine was later sealed.
- The landowners bought surface lots between 1976 and 1981 and later experienced tremors, surface cracking, and structural damage.
- A federal investigation attributed the damage to mine collapse and resulting subsidence.
- The landowners held title insurance policies that excluded coverage for mineral and mining rights.
- The landowners sued USX for tort theories (including negligence and nuisance) based on mining-related subsidence and sued title companies/agents for fraud, negligence, and contract-based theories tied to disclosure and coverage.
- The trial court entered summary judgment for USX and for the title-company defendants; the landowners appealed.

## Issues

1. Whether the recorded 1943 reservation permitting mining without surface support barred surface owners’ tort claims for subsidence damage.
2. Whether successor surface owners were bound by that reservation as a covenant running with the land.
3. Whether title insurers and title agents could be liable for fraud, negligence, or breach of contract despite recorded notice of the reservation and policy exclusions for mineral/mining rights.

## Decision

- The Supreme Court of Alabama affirmed summary judgment for USX on the landowners’ subsidence-related tort claims.
- The court held the 1943 reservation was valid, unambiguous, recorded, and binding on successor surface owners, and it allocated the risk of subsidence to the surface estate.
- The court affirmed summary judgment for the title insurers and agents, concluding the policies excluded mineral and mining rights and the plaintiffs’ theories did not create coverage or a viable tort/contract claim on these facts.

## Legal Principles

- A recorded deed reservation that expressly authorizes mining without leaving surface support, and states it runs with the land, binds successor surface owners with record notice.
- When subsidence damage results from mining conducted within the scope of such a reservation, tort theories (including negligence, trespass, and nuisance) cannot be used to impose liability contrary to the deed’s allocation of risk.
- Title insurance generally insures against defects in title, not against physical damage or consequences arising from the valid exercise of recorded property rights.
- Clear policy exclusions for mineral and mining rights bar claims seeking coverage for harms tied to those rights.
- Absent evidence of actionable misrepresentation or suppression beyond what is shown by recorded instruments and express policy terms, title insurers/agents are not liable for purchasers’ failure to appreciate the practical consequences of recorded reservations.

## Conclusion

The court enforced a recorded mineral reservation allowing mining without surface support, holding that successor surface owners took subject to the subsidence risk and could not recover in tort for damage caused by mining within the reserved rights; it also held that title insurers and agents were not liable where the reservation was of record and the policies expressly excluded mineral and mining rights.


Holmes v. Alabama Title Co., 507 So. 2d 922 (Ala. 1987)