Oil & Gas Litigation

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Oil and gas producers routinely fail to pay fair royalties - in violation of royalty clauses. They also fail to obey many express and implied covenants in their leases, operating agreements, and unit agreements, such as the many covenants flowing from their ever-present duty to behave as a "reasonably prudent operator" under all circumstances. When producers fail to obey their leases or to act as a "reasonably prudent operator," dire consequences happen: royalties worth thousands or millions of dollars go unpaid; mineral estates are depleted, wasted or destroyed; surface estates are damaged or polluted beyond remediation; and incestuous marketing arrangements (whereby, for example, a producer cheaply sells to itself the mineral estate's valuable production) burden mineral estates for decades.

Only the most skilled and specialized attorneys, expert witnesses and consultants can determine when a producer has failed to obey a lease or to act as a "reasonably prudent operator" while extracting oil or gas (or other minerals), while managing and protecting the leasehold estate, or while marketing the extracted production. The Schmidt Firm, LLP contains such attorneys, and it has several battle-tested relationships with the right expert witnesses and consultants.

The Schmidt Firm, LLP actively works with many landowners, royalty owners, trustees overseeing mineral rights, and charitable organizations having mineral rights in order to monitor their rights and royalty payments. The Firm has achieved significant advantages for its current clients, who have highly recommended the Firm to similarly situated parties and who have expanded the Firm's oversight responsibilities for their own mineral rights.