| Trial in huge lawsuit off to slow start
By David Hedges, Publisher
Times Record-Roane County Reporter
Holding court during evening hours and on Saturdays may be necessary to get through the trial of a huge class-action lawsuit that got underway in Roane Circuit Court last week.
Judge Tom Evans told participants in the case titled Garrison Tawney et al vs. Columbia Natural Resources et al that extra time in court was one option if the case is going to be resolved on schedule.
Evans set aside three weeks for the trial. The final day in that schedule is next Friday, Jan. 26.
When the trial started last week the first day was spent on jury selection before a three-man, three-woman jury, with four alternates, was picked from a pool of 60 potential jurors. Evans asked for a higher than usual number of alternates because of the length of time the case was expected to take.
Opening statements took place on Tuesday of last week, with each side using about two hours to outline their case to the jury. The rest of the day involved legal arguments.
The first witness to testify was not until Wednesday morning. Michael O'Donnell, executive vice president and chief financial officer of NiSource, an affiliated company to CNR, was the first witness and his cross-examination alone lasted a full day.
Others testifying were William Harmon, former president of CNR, and Mark Chandler, former chief financial officer of the company.
Also testifying last week was Lela Ann Tawney Goff. She is a daughter of Garrison Tawney, a retired teacher, now deceased, who was one of the first to question payments being made to oil and gas lease royalty owners by CNR, now Chesapeake Energy.
The suit alleges CNR did not pay royalty owners the full amount they were due.
With only four witnesses testifying in three days, there remained a lot of ground to be covered after the first week of what was expected to be a three-week trial.
The plaintiffs alone listed 104 people on their list of potential witnesses, although the actual number who will testify will likely be well below that.
Both sides are expected to have a number of expert witnesses whose testimony could be lengthy.
Evans also has another problem in that a grand jury session is set for next week. Evans must also preside over those proceedings. Arrangements have been made to use the family courtroom, also on the second floor of the courthouse, so both proceedings can take place at the same time.
The civil case, believed to be the county's first class-action lawsuit, has grown to include more than 8,000 plaintiffs, with in excess of a hundred million dollars a stake, according to attorneys who filed the action.
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