Thoughts appreciated on this issue

In June I top leased my property to a gas/oil  company. One day before my old lease was to expire the company holding my lease filed and placed me in a unit to hold me in the old lease. I have since discovered that was not a legitimate unit. (some of the acres in the unit were not theirs to use).  Last week they posted a new permit and legitimate unit, of which my property was included.

So, my feeling is they can not keep me under the old lease because:  (1) some of the acres in the 1st unit were not legitimate. (2) they did away with that unit. (3) the legitimate unit was developed and new permitt obtained 2 months after the old lease expired.

I know there are a few people on here that are very knowledgeable and may be able to give some inside as to what to do. I would be very appreciative of your thoughts. Thanks.

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Permalink Reply by RJ on December 8, 2013 at 7:43am
Be thankful and hope for a good well.. Aren't we in this to get these wells drilled and the real money will come from the royalties or we just after bonus money ?
Permalink Reply by evan on December 8, 2013 at 8:28am

It depends which company is paying royalties. JR. I trust some of the companies but if it's someone like Chesapeake then hell no

Permalink Reply by Robin Hood on December 8, 2013 at 4:25pm

Your reasoning's are sound,but,If your lease is with Chesapeake, then you will be forced to litigate. They will not respond unless you have a lawyer. They put the burden on the landowners to prove a case against them. If you protest they just go some where else leaving you in a muddle to figure out what to do. So if you are not in a hurry for royalties turn it over to the lawyers and be prepared to wait a couple of years as it makes it's way through the legal system. 

In our case with gas prices so low and therefore no urgency, we are basically in a Mexican standoff with them saying they extended our lease and us saying that they didn't so stay off our property.

So you can contact them with registered letters and state your reasons why the lease expired and your intention to litigate, they will invite your lawyer to contact them. Now if you go silent, they face the dilemma that if they drill into your property with your threat hanging over them, they could potentially face serious damages and a costly lease settlement if the court rules against them. You are essentially putting everything into limbo. When the gas lines are in place the leverage to negotiate with these skunks will improve.

Leases are intentionally written with ambiguities to allow a party to interpret the phrasing to fit the desired result. 

Permalink Reply by evan on December 14, 2013 at 8:53am
Not sure where Katie's from but whatever company she's dealing with I would fight it. Sounds like she has a chance. Like Robin Hood said. If you don't like it , even if the company knows their wrong, it doesn't hurt their feelings to carry on. It's not a big deal if it goes to court cause in the end if they loose they will just loose what was really the landowners anyway. They just figure that most landowners will not bother to fight it. But now there's so many attorneys that will take it on with a contingency fee meaning it won't cost landowners anything unless they win. Heck why not try it if you can handle their threats

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