Oil and Gas Lawyer BlogThree law firms in Dallas have joined to sue oil companies who backed out of leases covering lands in Arlington, Texas last fall. The three firms — Petroff & Associates, Riddle & Williams, P.C., and Mathis & Donheiser, P.C. — have so far filed two suits on behalf of two lot owners who say they had binding deals with companies to lease their property. The law firms have created a website at www.ntxleaselitigation.com, and are organizing meetings of landowners who believe they had lease deals with XTO . The interesting part of the two lawsuits filed so far is that they name as defendants not only the company that allegedly had agreed to pay for leases of the two plaintiffs’ properties, but also multiple other companies and their leasing agents who were leasing in the Barnett Shale. The suits claim that all of these companies conspired last fall to revoke their outstanding lease offers and to drive down the bonus price for leases, in violation of antitrust laws. For a story in the Fort Worth Star Telegram on the cases, see http://www.star-telegram.com/804/story/1593837.html . According to the suits, the plaintiffs were in an area of Arlington organized to negotiate leases for its landowners called the Southeast Arlington Coalition of Texas (SEACTX). SEACTX claimed that it had a deal to lease to XTO Energy for $26,517 per acre. Here are copies of the two petitions:
08-06-09BoothOriginalPetition[1].pdf and
08-31-09MylesOriginalPetition[1].pdf
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Law Firms Form Coalition to Sue Companies for Reneging on Leases in Barnett Shale
