An Oklahoma City federal judge has ruled against allowing the recovery of extensive attorney fees in a lawsuit won by an independent oil company over damage to its vertical well operation caused by nearby horizontal drilling.
U.S. District Judge Vicki Miles-LaGrange ruled that attorney Steven D. Singer who represented Singer Oil Company, LLC could only recover $160,345.49 out of nearly $227,000 sought after winning the lawsuit against Newfield Exploration Mid-Continent, Inc. and Halliburton Energy Services Inc.
Judge Miles-Lagrange did not approve legal fees spent in pursuit of a related lawsuit against Halliburton Energy Services, Inc. nor for time spent before the lawsuit began.
The judge also ruled against several thousand dollars in fees claimed by lawyers as they familiarized with the area of law. The attorney for Singer Oil, after winning the original lawsuit sought an award of attorney fees totaling $226,990.50.
The original lawsuit was filed in Kingfisher County District Court in 2016 then was transferred to federal court. It went to trial in November 2017 where a jury returned a verdict in favor of Singer Oil against Newfield on a private nuisance claim, negligence claim and breach of contract claim. The jury awarded Singer $257,000.