One of the lawsuits filed against Tulsa’s New Dominion LLC blaming the company’s disposal well operations for causing the 2011 earthquakes near Prague has been classified a class-action case.
Cleveland County District Judge Lori Walkley made the ruling, determining that homeowners and business operators in nine counties can join the lawsuit which is now set for trial in September.
The counties include Cleveland, Creek, Lincoln, Logan, Oklahoma, Okfuskee, Payne, Pottawatomie and Seminole counties. The attorney who started the lawsuit is Scott Poynter of Little Rock, Arkansas. He represents several individuals who have filed lawsuits stemming from earthquakes.
“It’s very important to the class members and to my clients, and it allows the process to be as efficient as possible,” he told The Oklahoman.
The lawsuit contends New Dominion’s wastewater disposal wells caused at least three earthquakes in November 2011 including a magnitude 5.7 quake which left homes with extensive damage in and around Prague. It was the strongest quake in state history until a 5.8 magnitude quake hit near Pawnee in September 2016.
A spokesman for New Dominion would not comment about the judge’s decision.
“We intend to prove in September the science behind induced seismicity and how these quakes in 2011 were caused by New Dominion’s operations,” Poynter. “That decision will be binding on all participants.”
The trial was set for Sept. 10.
An earlier lawsuit filed by a Prague woman hurt in the 2011 quake was settled last year. Details of the settlement with Sandra Ladra were never disclosed.
New Dominion remains a defendant in another earthquake-related lawsuit filed in Logan county. (CJ-2017-174). The suit filed by Lisa Griggs and April Marler is to be heard in Stillwater but a Judge in march stayed the matter until Sept. 6, 2018.