WHEELING – An Ohio corporation and estate representative are seeking to terminate the lease for oil and gas rights on a Wetzel County property.
MAPW LLC and Deborah Sue Knisely, executrix and personal representative of the estate of Patricia Eileen Newman, filed a complaint Oct. 6 in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia against Ohio L & M Co. Inc., Alliance Petroleum Corp., Antero Resources Appalachian Corp. and EQT Production Co. citing lease expiration, conversion, trespass and other counts.
According to the complaint, MAPW owns 161.5 acres of oil and gas mineral rights in Wetzel County and acquired it from Newman. In January 2016, the suit states the plaintiffs notified Alliance that the lease had expired and was terminated for lack of oil and gas production. In response, an attorney for Alliance stated that the lease remained valid, the suit states.
The plaintiffs holds Ohio L & M Co. Inc., Alliance Petroleum Corp., Antero Resources Appalachian Corp. and EQT Production Co. responsible because the plaintiffs allegedly have requested that the defendants release the lease and vacate the property but they have not done so.
The plaintiffs request a trial by jury and seek declaration that the lease is expired and terminated for failing to produce oil or gas, damages, declare the title and ownership of the property to the plaintiffs, and any further relief this court grants. They are represented by John F. McCuskey and Marc F. Mignault of Shuman McCuskey & Slicer PLLC in Charleston.
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia case number 5:17-cv-00155-JPB