SUIT AGAINST COLUMBIA RESOURCES MOVING AHEAD - Lawyers File Second Class Action Suit

(06/22/2006)

By David Hedges, Publisher Times Record-Roane County Reporter Another class action lawsuit, the second against a large gas company in three years, has been filed in Roane Circuit Court on behalf of natural gas royalty owners. The latest suit seeks payment from Equitable Production Co. for royalty owners who allegedly did not receive fair market value for their interests. The suit was filed the same week a ruling was handed down, which favors plaintiffs in an earlier class action suit filed against Columbia Natural Resources. Many of the same attorneys are involved in both suits, including Marvin W. Masters of Charleston, retired Roane Circuit Judge George M. Scott and former federal prosecutor and gubernatorial candidate Michael W. Carey. The suit filed in 2003 against CNR, believed to be the first class action lawsuit in Roane County history, has grown to involve over 8,000 plaintiffs. Although the case is still pending before Roane Circuit Judge Tom Evans, Evans asked the state supreme court to settle the question of whether natural gas production companies can pass along part of the production expenses to royalty owners of natural gas wells. CNR has been deducting a share of the cost of transporting gas from the wellhead to a transmission line from payments to royalty owners. According to CNR leases, a well owner is entitled to 1/8 of the price of natural gas from their well, "less all taxes, assessments and adjustments." Rest of the story ... www.thetimesrecord.net

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