Are You Being Unfairly Compensated?

Oil and Gas Royalty Underpayment Lawsuits — In an era of unprecedented profits within the oil and gas industry, the American royalty owner is still very much at risk of being unfairly compensated by the Operators and Producers who routinely fail to pay fair royalties.

Sometimes Producers make underpayments to royalty owners simply because of the complexities involved in today’s oil and gas leases and related agreements. However, often Producers blatantly fail to pay fair royalties. In either case, the royalty owner has a legal claim for compensation.

Producers have a responsibility to behave as a “reasonably prudent operator” under all circumstances. Unfortunately, it is often the case that the Producers fail to obey many express and implied covenants in their leases, operating agreements, and unit agreements, which may ultimately result in gross underpayments being made to the royalty owner.

When producers fail to act as a “reasonably prudent operator,” the following catastrophic consequences may occur:

• 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.

About Us

The Schmidt Firm is dedicated to protecting the rights of the American Royalty Owner. Our law firm works with many landowners, property managers, royalty owners, trustees overseeing mineral rights, and charitable organizations.

The Oil and Gas Litigation Group at our law firm is a highly experienced team of trial lawyers that have proven themselves against even the most formidable opponent(s).

Although our firm is national in scope, we level the playing field for our clients by providing them with access to a level of professional legal representation previously available only to large corporations, while still providing personal attention to each client.

Free Confidential Oil & Gas Royalty Audit

If you feel that you are being unfairly compensated with regard to royalty payments, we can help. Furthermore, if you manage a trust or other organization you have a fiduciary duty to your entity to investigate possible royalty underpayments and accounting errors.

Please use the form below or call us directly to schedule an initial consultation. Again, there is no charge to review your potential case.

We Value Your Privacy – All information you provide will remain strictly confidential.