An Ohio Supreme Court ruling issued on Wednesday could be a step toward resolving a long legal battle over how much, if any money is owed by the state to the owner of a Trumbull County brine injection well that was ordered closed following an earthquake.

Justices on the state’s highest court unanimously ruled that the Eleventh District Court of Appeals, based in Warren, failed to follow earlier instructions from the Ohio Supreme Court in the case filed by AWMS Water Solutions against the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.

AWMS has been arguing that ODNR in effect “took” its property when it suspended the operation of one of its injection wells along Route 169 in 2014 following seismic activity near the well site.

The well owner argues that it invested $5.6 million into the wells and was unable to reap the profits from its operation.

In a 2021 ruling, the appellate court dismissed the case, agreeing with the ODNR’s argument that AWMS had a lease to dispose of waste, and was not considered to be a property qualified for compensation.

In Wednesday’s opinion, the Supreme Court states that it had already previously ruled that AWMS did have a property interest in its lease and that the duty of the appeals court was to weigh the evidence to consider how much money, if any, the state owes AWMS.

“By deciding the case in this manner, the court ventured beyond the scope of our remand order,” the opinion stated.

The opinion stated that it is hard to understand how the appeals court could rule that AWMS did not have an interest that entitled it to compensation without doing the takings analysis that the appeals court was ordered to do.

The case is again being sent back to the appeals court where judges have been ordered to weigh the evidence to determine whether the well owner suffered a total taking of the property involved.