MOUNDSVILLE – A group of Marshall County landowners is suing an oil and gas exploration firm in a dispute over royalty payments.
James Earnest Pettit, Cheerful Jane Pettit, Hoffman Keystone Trust, Ronald Eugene Hoffman, Ruby Hoffman, Gary Hancyzk and Diane Hancyzk filed a class action suit May 17 in Marshall Circuit Court against CNX Gas Company LLC, alleging breach of a lease agreement.
According to the complaint, each of the plaintiffs owns interest in the oil, gas and residual minerals for tracts of land they inherited. The dispute concerns whether each plaintiff is receiving the proper royalties held in escrow by CNX Gas Co., the suit says.
The plaintiffs seek a court declaration stating they are the rightful owners of the royalties in escrow, a permanent injunction ordering payment of the royalties, an award of damages for litigation costs, and interest. They are represented by Charleston attorneys David L. Grubb and Kristina Thomas Whiteaker of The Grubb Law Group and by attorney David McMahon of Charleston.
Judge David W. Hummel Jr. is assigned to the case.
Marshall Circuit Court Case number 16-C-81-H