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HUGE CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT OVER GAS ROYALTIES STARTS - Roane Trial Could Last Three Weeks |
| (01/04/2007) |
| Lawsuit over
gas royalties
headed to trial
By David Hedges Publisher The trial in the biggest lawsuit in local history is set to get underway Monday at the Roane County Courthouse. A suit filed in 2003 against Columbia Natural Resources claims the company cheated royalty owners through a variety of methods. The company now known as Chesapeake Appalachia LLC is a wholly owned subsidiary of Chesapeake Energy Corp. The lawsuit claims the company defrauded natural gas royalty owners through a variety of methods including deducting expenses from royalty payments and paying royalties under a price set by a long-term contract instead of what the gas would have brought on the open market. The case has grown to involve more than 8,500 royalty owners and, according to pre-trial filings by the plaintiffs' attorneys, potential damages could amount to hundreds of millions of dollars. With that much at stake, it comes as no surprise that the lawyers involved reads like a who's who list of attorneys in West Virginia. Among those representing the royalty owners are Charleston attorneys Marvin Masters and Scott Segal, two of the state's most successful plaintiffs' attorneys. Also representing the plaintiffs is the firm of Carey, Scott and Douglas. The firm includes former federal prosecutor Michael Carey, who as a federal prosecutor directed the criminal case that sent former Governor Arch Moore Jr. to prison, and retired circuit judge George Scott, who also served a 14-month unexpired term on the state Supreme Court. The defense in the case filed a motion requesting that the other attorneys be prohibited from referring to Scott as "judge" during the trial. The firm of Bowles, Rice, McDavid, Graff and Love represents the large landowner subclass in the lawsuit, while the other side is represented by two of the state's largest defense firms, Robinson & McElwee and Steptoe & Johnson. Because of the complexities of the case, a pool of more than 60 potential jurors has been summoned from which a jury of six members and four alternates will be selected ... Read the rest of story www.thetimesrecord.net
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