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Permalink Reply by Robert Griffin R on October 21, 2008 at 17:37

Provided one has sufficient surplus expendable cash to retain an attorney for an indefinite time period of billable hours to perform background research on the problem and then court costs and more billable hours to try the case. There is always the risk that an individual landowner could lose their case end up having to pay not only their own court costs and attorney fees but the other sides costs also. Every day there seems to be more and more cases where landowners on this site are advised to get an attorney. Much easier said than done for many people. It seems to me that what is needed is a general Landowner Legal Support organization that would address common and time critical problems that apply to a broad range of situations such as enforcing the mineral codes, leasing documents and payment issues, environmental damage issues such as depleting ground water resources, toxic comtamination issues, trend toward larger units which dilute landowner interests, etc., etc. Funds for this legal support group could and should come at least in part from the huge million$$$$ lease bonuses collected by municipalites and police juries plus fees for individual landowner special cases.

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Permalink Reply by Grice on October 21, 2008 at 18:04

If you feel you are in need of legal assistance, but are financially unable to retain such services, you have options. Many lawyers will offer free initial consultations. You could request for the case to be handled "Pro Bono". If you are unable to locate an attorney who will work pro bono, you could offer your claim the the Northwest Louisiana Legal Services. Either option will provide you with a more clear understanding of your rights. If you fail to meet the requirements to file suit, usually, you will be provided that information in one of the initial consultations with a lawyer. Do not allow the fear of your financial situation, deter you from seeking help, or lead you to think your rights do not have merit.

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Permalink Reply by Robert Griffin R on October 23, 2008 at 18:17

Grice,
Thank you but I was speaking about general problems and not a personal one. Perhaps you and GoshDarn and KB and others with legal knowledge or who are members of the local legal professions could write a newspaper article or a series of articles on the subject of landowner legal assistance options available in NW Louisiana and common issues that might require legal representation between now and the time there are 5,000-10,000-20,000 deep shale and shallow wells in NW Louisiana. I seriously doubt if any Shreveport attorney would take multiple cases "Pro Bono" for toxic spills, State of Louisiana failures to enforce the mineral code, wide scale ground water depletion for fracing water, general road destruction parish wide by hundreds of 18-wheel trucks, noise pollution in the course of drilling and fracing 288 Haynesville Shale wells (8 per section) in every township, pipe encroachment on small landowners, noise problems from large pipeline compressor stations, etc., etc., etc.

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Permalink Reply by Grice on October 21, 2008 at 10:23

Both examples provided in this thread, reinforces the need for the landowner to read, and understand, the terms of the document they intend to sign. In both examples provided, offers were made under conditional terms (subject to review and approval). Those conditions were not met(the company did not approve), so a lease was not pursued. When signing of the LOI, you agreed to the terms of the LOI. While it is easy to put blame on the O&G companies, the ones who signed without full understanding of what they were signing should also share some of the burden. While I do not condone what the company has done, they should not be burned at the stake...maybe just tarred and feathered.

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Permalink Reply by insomniacnla on October 21, 2008 at 10:35

I truly believe that some landmen portrayed the Agreement to Lease as a legally binding document and then played both sides of the coin. I think that this Agreement was something new locally and that the landowners had not been educated as to its meaning and never saw it coming. We had been well versed and knew that an actual OGML needed to be reviewed by an attorney but there had not been as much media attention concerning the Agreements to Lease that were being circulated.

I feel horrible for my friends that passed up offers by other oil and gas companies because they thought that by having signed an Agreement to Lease, that it was a done deal.

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Permalink Reply by Grice on October 21, 2008 at 14:46

There are too many variable to offer a definite answer. However, if you think you have been a party to such activity, I encourage you to seek legal representation.

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Permalink Reply by insomniacnla on October 21, 2008 at 12:07

I have been counting my lucky stars every single day that I was able to lease AND I was able to receive payment.

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Permalink Reply by Antsu-in-Japan on October 22, 2008 at 4:13

Grice is dishing out some GREAT advice!! Yes, it is important to understand what you read and we (at least my family) were full aware of what was written. Unfortunately, we live out of town and didn't even get the lease agreement until after they decided to deliver the news. Sure, legally, they had every right to do what they did. Morally, especially after considering that they strung the groups along for over a month promising that we had a partnership then dropped that kind of news simply because it was a very 'convenient' time for them to do so..no, I'd consider that to be extremely selfish on their part. If they were having financial problems and couldn't lease us, fine...they should have said so MUCH earlier. We would have happily gone with one of the other companies that wanted to negotiate with us. And no, it's not even about the "collapsing" economy (as now they are offering us contracts at 1/10 the amount they initially agreed to honor. Where is THIS money coming from if they are so broke??). Frankly, I think (like many of you have said) they are using the global economic problems to justify lowering the signing bonus payments.

Putting legalities aside for a moment, the fact is they went back on their word...and that one action tells me everything I need to know about the kind of company CHK is and the management that leads it. I am VERY happy for those of you who have had good dealings with this company and wish you nothing but the best in your future dealings with them..but now you know what happened to some of us, so watch your backs and protect your assets.

As Intrepid so graciously noted, there are two sides to each story - maybe it's not fair that you haven't been graced with CHK's version of what happened. I could wish you luck regarding the possibility of getting an open, honest answer from them regarding their blatant lack of respect for the locals in the Keithville area...but instead I'll just suggest that you not hold your breath. They haven't even told us 'victims' their side of this unbelievable story!

Again, maybe they did nothing criminal but what is a company without a good name. CHK could contact my family and offer us twice what they were willing to pay and we'd probably pass. We simply don't trust anything they have to say...and we surely do not trust them to be fair when it comes to our land. My family would rather work with a company that we feel respects us, our neighbors and our situations as much as they expect us to respect and trust them. What I'm noticing from abroad is that a few too many of the gas companies hide behind the law and legal loopholes instead of conducting moral, upstanding business. What CHK did, in our opinion, was dishonest, disrespectful and immoral. If they can't even honor this most basic requirement of a partnership (TRUST), why in the world would we want to put our family's financial future in their hands? Now we are very aware that our land contains something many people will someday demand...and that resource is not going anywhere without OUR permission to supply it.

On a lighter note, though we were initially disappointed at the sudden reversal regarding the proposed contract, we could only laugh when my father (a devout Christian) thanked GOD CHK showed it's true colors before we signed our gas away. In addition, maybe we should be thanking CHK for the dry-run. Now we know more regarding what not to do when it comes to negotiating with the Goliaths of gas!! Round two of contract negotiations (whenever it happens) will definitely not be easy for them or any other company that decides to pursue our land...our eyes are WIDE OPEN.

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