The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver has set aside more than $17 million in attorney fees in the settlement of an Oklahoma class action lawsuit involved alleged underpayment of royalties from gas wells.
In a 2-0 decision, the court sent the $52 million settlement back to Oklahoma City federal court saying the judge had not followed Oklahoma law in properly calculating attorney fees.
The lawsuit had been filed against three funds of Enervest Energy, Fourpoint Energy LLC, and SM Energy Company. The Chieftain Royal company filed the suit and eventually was awarded $260,000.
A cash settlement of $52 million was reached and the attorney fees were to represent 40% of the settlement fund plus interest. Two persons in the suit objected so Charles David Nutley and Danny George filed an appeal of the $17,333,333.33 payment.
The appeals court determined the judge had not followed state law governing how to calculate the proper attorney fee.
Attorneys who represented Chieftain Royalty in its suit were several with the Nix, Patterson and Roach law firm of Texas; and Robert N. Barnes and Patranell Britten Lewis of the Oklahoma City law firm of Barnes and Lewis.