Family accuses Antero of property encroachment

WEST UNION — A Doddridge County mother and daughter have sued an energy company.

Genevieve V. Stanley, as administrator of the estate of Toby Douglas Stanley and Kathryn L. Stanley, filed a lawsuit March 2 in Doddridge Circuit Court against Antero Resources Corporation, Antero Resources Appalachian Corporation, EQT Gathering and Wells Fargo Bank.

Kathryn L. Stanley is the former wife of Toby Douglas Stanley, who died Oct. 6, 2014, and when the couple divorced in June 2009, they agreed on joint ownership of two parcels of real estate on Big Flint Run, Grant District, according to the complaint.

The suit states there are insufficient funds to pay off the deed of trust, which is held by Wells Fargo, and that Kathryn Stanley has a right of first refusal. According to the suit, the defendants paid Toby Douglas Stanley for a right of way through the property unbeknownst to the plaintiffs and without their consent or partial release from the deed. The suit alleges the right of way is an illegal infringement on their property.

The Stanleys allege damage to property rights.

The plaintiffs seek: either compensation for the damage or that the defendants abandon the right of way; permission to sell the real estate in order to pay the estate debts; attorney fees; and costs. They are represented by attorney Thomas Kupec of Kupec & Associates in Clarksburg.

Doddridge Circuit Court case number: 15-C-10