© 2015 The Texas Lawbook.
By Natalie Posgate
(Sept. 8) – Lawyers for Chesapeake Energy likely spent Labor Day laboring over a confidential settlement reached Tuesday morning for a case against Fort Worth billionaire Ed Bass and other disgruntled royalty owners. It was set to go to trial Tuesday.
Jurors were to determine damages Chesapeake owed to the North Texas landowners for violating their leasing contract by deducting post-production expenses from royalty payments. U.S. District Judge Ed Kinkeade determined Chesapeake had made that violation in a summary judgment ruling last month.
“We’re really pleased with the result,” said Dallas attorney Daniel Charest, who led the case for the plaintiffs.
Charest worked on the case with Warren Burns, Will Thompson and Kyle Oxford, who all practice at Burns Charest.
Charest and Burns started their litigation boutique in March after leaving Susman Godfrey. Charest said he became acquainted with the Basses while still at Susman, when his clients and the Basses were co-plaintiffs on an oil and gas trial in Louisiana, which they won.
In an e-mail, Chesapeake spokesman Gordon Pennoyer said “we are pleased to have reached a mutually acceptable agreement and look forward to further strengthening our relationship with the Bass family.”
Austin attorney Christopher Sileo of Scott Douglass & McConnico led the case for Chesapeake.
For more details on the case, read this article in the Fort Worth Star Telegram.
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