Center Director Provides Comments for State Impact Regarding Royalty Lawsuit

On July 17, 2020, Ross Pifer was quoted in an article published by State Impact Pennsylvania entitled Are Gas Royalty Owners Buyers or Sellers? In a Court Fight Over Royalties, The Answer to That Question Could Make All the Difference to Landowners. This article discusses an ongoing case before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in which the court is considering whether to apply Pennsylvania’s Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law to oil and gas leases. The lawsuit alleges that landowners were deceived by misleading tactics employed by Chesapeake Energy and Anadarko Petroleum when the companies approached landowners to acquire leases.  Ross discussed the potential benefits landowners could see if the case were allowed to move forward.