Recent Developments in Oil and Gas Law
ACT 312 CHANGES – The 2012 legislative session brought significant changes to Louisiana law governing civil suits for the remediation of environmental damage to property caused by oil and gas operations. Louisiana Revised Statute 30:29, enacted in 2006 and commonly known as Act 312, provides the procedure for judicial resolution of such claims. In spring 2012, [...]
Recent Developments in the Battle Over Hydraulic Fracturing
The Marcellus Shale stretches across the Appalachian Mountains, and may hold over 500 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. Gas companies are eager to exploit this resource using the controversial technique, hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”). This valuable and untapped resource has caused a battle in the northeast among gas companies, environmentalists, and local, state, and federal [...]
The Maryland Company, LLC v. ExxonMobil Corporation, et al.
In this suit, Jones Swanson represented the owner of several hundred acres of freshwater marshland in southern Louisiana. The property was grossly contaminated after decades of oil and gas operations by various defendants, including industry giants Exxon Mobil Corporation and Burlington Oil & Gas Resources Company, LP. Jones Swanson filed the suit on March 16, [...]
Doré Energy Corporation v. Carter-Langham, Inc., et al.
On August 23, 2002, the firm filed a suit against numerous oil and gas exploration and production companies on behalf of Doré Energy Corporation, which owns approximately 18,000 acres of wetlands in Southwestern Louisiana. Doré Energy Corporation sought a clean-up of its property and a remediation of pollution and other damages caused by decades of [...]
Marcus Broussard, Jr., et al. v. Martin Operating Partnership, LP, et al.
The firm brought suit on behalf of Louisiana land owners for damage and contamination to their land by the lessees and their insurers, as well as for unpaid or underpaid royalties for hydrocarbons produced from the property. As of June 2012, issues related to legal causation for tort and contract claims under Louisiana law are [...]
Black River Real Estate Company, Inc. v. Hunt Oil Company, et al.
The firm brought suit on behalf of a Louisiana land owner for damages caused by the oil and gas exploration and production activities by lessee oil companies in the Ross Bayou field. The suit has resulted in settlement against most of the lessees. Seventh Judicial District Court for the Parish of Concordia, State of Louisiana, [...]
In Re: Harvey Term Litigation
In this matter, the firm has been retained to represent several land owners who were sued by numerous residents of the area in which they own property. The land owners were awarded a substantial amount of money against an oil company arising from the pollution of their property with naturally occurring radioactive materials. After being [...]
Fox, et al. v. Cheminova, Inc., et al.
On August 25, 2000, the firm filed a class action lawsuit in federal court in Long Island, New York against several pesticide manufactures on behalf of a class of commercial lobstermen from New York and Connecticut who suffered damages after their lobster crop in the Long Island Sound was decimated as a result of the [...]