JUDGE EVANS COULD APPROVE ROYALTY SETTLEMENT

(11/22/2008)

Roane county circuit judge Thomas Evans III could sign-off today on the terms of a settlement agreement between NiSource and Chesapeake Energy and thousands of royalty holders in WV. Judge Evans will hold a fairness hearing on the settlement starting at 9 a.m. today in Spencer. He has already given preliminary approval to that agreement. The companies, in part, have agreed to pay $380 million in damages and will not pursue any more appeals, including a possible appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. It's an amount that is less than the $404 million a Roane County jury ordered those companies to pay last year. The property owners, more than 10,000 of them, claimed they were not paid the full amount they should have been paid for their holdings, the gas producers withheld their production costs. Anyone who objects to the settlement will have the chance to voice their concerns during the hearing.

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