The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, through the Office of the Attorney General, today filed a civil action in the Court of Common Pleas of Bradford County against Chesapeake and Williams Partners, asserting claims under the Pennsylvania Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law, and seeking injunctive relief and to recover for Pennsylvania landowners monies wrongfully deducted from their royalty checks. A copy of the Civil Complaint is available to be reviewed or downloaded here.

The Complaint alleges that Chesapeake and Access Midstream (now Williams Partners) engaged in unfair and deceptive acts and practices intended to enable them to deduct artificially inflated gathering costs from royalties, and to enable Chesapeake to receive undisclosed transition payments from Access Midstream.

We are pleased to see that the Commonwealth is stepping up and seeking to use its powers in an effort to protect the interests of royalty owners. The action validates the claims that we have been pursuing, and will continue to pursue, on behalf of royalty owners. We view the claims being asserted by the Attorney General's Office under the UTPCPL as complementary and beneficial to the federal antitrust and RICO claims that we are asserting in our group actions in federal court, and to the breach of contract claims we are seeking to assert in group arbitration claims against not only Chesapeake, but also the multiple other gas companies that hold working interests in most of the same leases, and in the gathering pipelines that service the wells, as well as Williams Partners, f/k/a Access Midstream. 

In other words, we will be continuing to pursue the separate claims we are asserting against not only Chesapeake but also the other gas companies that have been improperly deducting artificially inflated costs from royalties owed to landowners and other royalty interest owners. The Attorney General's lawsuit should help us in our efforts.

The Office of the Attorney General also filed an amicus brief in the Demchak Partners case, objecting to and seeking modification of the scope of the proposed release, to prevent Chesapeake from arguing that it releases the parens patriae claims that it is asserting in its Civil Complaint in Bradford County. A copy of the Amicus Brief is available here. 

Because of the high volume of requests for representation we are receiving, and the upcoming holdidays, if you would like to retain us to file claims as part of one of our 2015 group actions, we will need to receive your signed contingent fee agreement, and copies of your lease and other necessary documents, by no later than DECEMBER 14. For a list of the documents needed to file, see the FAQ page here. If you are a member of the Settlement Class in Demchak Partners, you also still will need to complete and mail your opt-out request no later than DECEMBER 17. ​Information on how to opt-out of the Settlement Class in Demchak Partners is available here. 

Based on the questions asked at the public forum sponsored by the Bradford County Commissioners this past Wednesday, December 2, and calls we have received since then, it is apparent that many royalty owners still do not know whether they are members of the Settlement Class in the Demchak Partners class action. According to the Court authorized Notice which was (or theoretically should have been) mailed to allmembers of the Settlement Class, if you have any question about whether you are part of the Settlement Class, you can:

(i) visit www.ChesapeakePAGasRoyaltySettlement.com;
(ii) email [email protected];
(iii) call (toll-free) 1-855-465-0343; or
(iv) contact the following Class Counsel: Larry Moffett (662) 232-8979 [email protected]; or Michelle O'Brien (570) 209-7901 [email protected].

A copy of the Court authorized Notice issued in the Demchak Partners case is available on the website listed above, and is also available here.

Anyone who is presently a client of our legal team, and who has not yet submitted an opt-out request, should contact us immediately.

Anyone else who is not sure whether he or she is a member of the Settlement Class in Demchak Partners, or, if so, whether it is in his or her best interests to opt-out of or remain in the Settlement Class, should consider consulting an attorney promptly.

If you already have already decided that you do not want to be part of the Settlement Class, or bound by the proposed settlement, in the Demchak Partners case, but still are not sure whether you are part of the Settlement Class, then there is no harm in submitting an opt-out request as a precaution, to make sure you do not unintentionally become bound. A summary of the instructions for the completion and submission of an opt-out request, and a sample form of opt-out letter, are available here. 

Thank you to the Bradford County Commissioners for organizing the public forum last night at the Towanda High School auditorium on the proposed settlement of the Demchak Partners class action, and for inviting us to participate on the panel. Over 650 people came out to hear more about the proposed settlement, and about the important decision that those who are presently members of the Settlement Class have to make by December 17, about whether they want to remain in the Settlement Class, or to opt-out. We hope the information provided was helpful.

​Due to the volume of requests we have been receiving, and to the obvious need, we have decided to post on our website (i) a sample form of opt-out request, along with (ii) a summary of the instructions contained in the various Court documents in the Demchak Partners case as to what is required to complete and submit an opt-out request, and (iii) some common-sense suggestions, which you can review here.

​IMPORTANT:  If you are a member of the Settlement Class, and want to retain us (or have retained us) to represent you in pursuing your direct claims on a group basis, you must sign and submit the opt-out request to the Settlement Administrator and attorneys in the Demchak Partners case; signing and submitting our Contingent Fee Agreement for Legal Services is not enough.  If you have  any questions about this, please contact us immediately.