WHEELING — A man is suing SWN Production Company alleging it breached its contract with him involving oil and gas royalties.
Equinor USA Onshore Properties Inc. was also named as a defendant in the suit.
John Leonetti of Brooke County claims he inherited ownership of a lease when his mother died and the lease included royalty payments, according to a complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia.
Leonetti claims SWN acquired an assignment of the Leonetti lease working interests held by Chesapeake Appalachia and Equinor.
The defendants have continued to operate oil and gas wells and production units within the property, according to the suit.
Leonetti claims the defendants have engaged in oil and gas production efforts under the lease agreement and have deducted post-production costs from royalty checks due and payable to the plaintiff.
"Defendants Equinor and SWN wrongfully and intentionally breached the subject lease contract and its related duty of good faith and fair dealing with the plaintiff through the retention and deduction of post-production costs from the royalty share and in their failure to properly and accurately account for the total volumes and sales records for all of the 'oil, gas and constituents thereof' produced from the Leonetti property, as well as its failure to pay the appropriate market values under the lease," the complaint states.
Leonetti claims he's been damaged through the defendants' conversions in that he has not received full and accurate royalty payment monies that were due and owing to him.
The plaintiff alleges he has experienced a loss of use of these monies, including but not limited to being prevented from using said monies for his own personal purposes including, but not limited to, the investment of those monies.
The defendants' actions caused Leonetti to incur substantial costs and expenses, according to the suit.
Leonetti is seeking compensatory and punitive damages. He is represented by James G. Bordas III of Bordas & Bordas in Wheeling.
The case is assigned to District Judge John Preston Bailey.
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia case number: 5:22-cv-00035
