CLARKSBURG – A Ritchie County property owner is seeking a recordable release of a memorandum from a Kentucky company.
Michael L. Bialek filed a complaint in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia against HERC Oil and Gas LLC seeking judgment regarding a memorandum.
According to the complaint, the plaintiff owns more than 1,000 acres and the interests of oil and gas in Ritchie County. He alleges he and the defendant were parties to a purchase and sale agreement with the defendant as the buyer in October 2013, which was later amended in 2013, 2014 and 2015.
The plaintiff alleges the defendant prepared and placed of record in Ritchie County a memorandum of oil and gas lease in 2013 that "purports to give notice to third parties of the existence of a 'lease agreement' which is described as granting HERC the right to operate for a produce the oil and gas covered by the subject lease."
The plaintiff alleges there is no lease agreement and because the defendant failed to timely exercise its rights under the original purchase and sale agreement, it is no longer in effect.
The plaintiff seeks an order for defendant to execute a recordable release of the memorandum, award for damages of more than $75,000, attorney's fees, costs and any further relief to which he may be entitled. He is represented by P. Nathan Bowles of P. Nathan Bowles PLLC in Charleston.
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia case number 2:17-cv-00153
