Thank you to everyone who attended our town hall meetings yesterday in LeRoy and on Tuesday in Ulster, New Albany and Wyalusing. The response was encouraging. Based on the number of landowners who have signed-on and, more importantly, their total acreage in production, we have reached critical mass, and are continuing to sign-on additional landowners. We are finalizing the initial complaint now. if you would like to be part of the initial action (and by doing to start the trial-clock running on your claims), please sign and submit our Contingent Fee Agreement (copy available here), along with copies of your royalty statements, division orders, and any correspondence with Chesapeake or other gas companies, as soon as possible. 

We plan to hold additional town-hall meetings in early 2015, for those who not been able to attend one yet, and who would like an opportunity to meet us and learn more about our approach. In the meantime, if you have questions, or would like to be part of the initial complaint, please feel free to call our toll-free number, (855) 338-0466. We would be happy to schedule a conference call or an appointment to discuss your individual situation and issues. 

As those who have attended our town hall meetings for royalty owners know, we all owe a debt of gratitude to ProPublica, the independent, non-profit investigative journalism organization (www.propublica.org), and to Abrahm Lustgarten, the ProPublica writer who brought to light how Chesapeake solved the financial crisis that it faced from having incurred too much debt to finance its acquisition of leases  by effectively borrowing billions of dollars more, in a series of transactions structured "sales" of its gas gathering systems, all at the expense of its royalty owners.  

For those who have not yet read it, the article titled "Chesapeake Energy's $5 Billion Shuffle," published on March 13, 2014, available here, provides a good introduction as to why the Marcellus Royalty Action will be focusing on the abuse of monopoly pricing power and restraint of trade inherent in the terms and structure of the Chesapeake Midstream/Access Midstream transactions, and resulting gas gathering agreements. 

An earlier article by Lustgarten, "Unfair Share: How Oil and Gas Drillers Avoid Paying Royalties," published on August 13, 2013, available here, first focused attention on Chesapeake's royalty payment practices in Bradford County.

A more recent article by Lustgarten, "Chesapeake Energy Faces Subpoena On Royalty Payment Practices," published on November 14, 2014, available here, explains how years of complaints by Bradford County landowners and the ProPublica investigation have resulted in investigations of Chesapeake, and the issuance of subpoenas to Chesapeake by the U.S. Department of Justice and several states, as disclosed by Chesapeake Energy in its Form 10-Q report filed with the SEC on November 6, 2014. 

We highly recommend these articles to all Chesapeake royalty owners who have not yet read them. 

We invite royalty owners who have leased mineral rights in Bradford County (or in adjacent townships in Sullivan, Susquehanna and Wyoming Counties) to attend one of our upcoming Town Hall Meetings, to meet our litigation team, to earn more about our planned approach, and to get answers to any questions you may have. The meetings scheduled for next week will be held:

Tuesday, December 16, 2014, at 9:00 a.m. at the Ulster-Sheshequin Fire Hall, 85 Rescue Street, Ulster; 

Tuesday, December 16, 2014, at 1:00 p.m. at the New Albany Fire Hall, Main Street, New Albany;  

Tuesday, December 16, 2014, at 6:00 p.m. at the Wyalusing Presbyterian Church, 120 Church Street,Wyalusing; and

Wednesday, December 17, 2014, at 1:00 p.m., at the LeRoy Community Association Building, Mill Street, LeRoy.

There is no cost to attend, no obligation involved, and no need to register in advance.


We look forward to meeting you.

Although the Marcellus Royalty Action is focused on Bradford County, we recognize that some of the same issues we see in Bradford County appear to be affecting Chesapeake royalty owners in several townships in Sullivan, Susquehanna and Wyoming counties adjacent to Bradford County.  As a result, Chesapeake royalty owners those townships are also welcome to attend our upcoming town hall meetings on December 16 in Wyalusing, New Albany or Ulster,  or on December 17 in LeRoy. We would be pleased to evaluate your royalty statements and potential claims to see if they fall within the scope of our intended action.

We have just scheduled an additional Town Hall Meeting for Wednesday, December 17, @ 1:00 p.m., at the LeRoy Community Association Building, on Mill Street in LeRoy, for royalty owners in the western part of Bradford County. Come meet our litigation team, learn more about our planned approach, and get answers to any questions you may have.