WHEELING – The out-of-state owners of 89 acres near McKim Creek in Tyler County with interests in the surface and oil gas of the property allege an oil and gas drilling and extracting company has illegally drilled on their property.
Rufus Fordyce Pike, John Kent Pike Jr. and Daniel Edward Pike filed a complaint in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia against Antero Resources Corp. alleging intentional surface trespass and unjust enrichment.
The plaintiffs, who were deeded the property through inheritance, claim in their suit that since July 2015, Antero contractors and other agents have "entered upon the surface and the subsurface of the oil and gas shales and geologic strata" and began drilling and inserting steel pipes to pump various chemicals and water onto their property.
They allege Antero has completed 12 Marcellus gas wells in and through the surface and subsurface of their property and has generated $54 million in revenue.
The plaintiffs seek damages, a trial by jury, interest and all other proper relief. They are represented by William Ford III of The Ford Law Office in Clarksburg.
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia case number 5:19-CV-276
