WEST UNION – A Virginia man and two energy companies are suing Ohio State University and its board of trustees in a dispute involving mineral rights on inherited land.
Antero Resources Corp., Franklin L. Butler and XTO Energy Inc. filed a lawsuit Dec. 1 in Doddridge Circuit Court against the board of trustees of Ohio State University, Jessica Hudgins and more than 40 other defendants.
According to the complaint, Faye L. Smith bequeathed her interest in the subject minerals to Ohio State University in 1991. Since that time, neither the university nor the trustees have exercised their rights to the minerals on the land, the suit says, preventing the plaintiffs from also exercising their rights to the minerals.
The plaintiffs seek to obtain the mineral rights or the sale of the mineral rights in question to obtain their value for all parties involved. They are represented by attorneys W. Henry Lawrence, Allison J. Farrell and Nicholas A. Graziosi of Steptoe & Johnson in Bridgeport. The case has been assigned to Circuit Judge Timothy L. Sweeney.
Doddridge Circuit Court Case number 15-C-49