Nick & Lora,
Thank you so much for your help and support. I think they dropped the ball entirely…it was as if we didn’t even exist…we only have 80 acres, but that is still 1/8th of the area spacing unit. For non-leased property owners they have to at least claim that they tried to contact them. However, if you have a lease the law assumes you don’t need that protection…so there is no such requirement. Further, they only need so many of the owners to actually sign for the drilling to begin…65%??..can’t remember for sure…So my guess is that they work to get to that percentage and then get lazy…If you are not included my property or name in the spacing unit or pooling order, which we did not, even a court review does nothing to catch such omissions…
When this first happened I kept asking about that escrow account…the OCC knew nothing and there wasn’t any way to look at Chesapeake’s records to see if they had actually set aside money for us…doubtful since they denied we even existed!!! However, if access to those records could have been obtained, and they were accurate (will never know since no audit requirements exist apparently) it could have resolved the production number discrepency.
So did you get any explanation about why the numbers reported were supposedly so inaccurate?? I really wish I knew if their tax reports were equally flawed…I think the tax commission would be interested in whether or not they are receiving accurate numbers and you’d think Chesapeake would want to recoup some tax monies if they were taxed on production that didn’t occur.
I worked in government for a lot of years and our agencies were regulated tightly… audits coming from within and from without…regulatory agencies… that is why I’m just astounded that in the private sector these same sort of checks and balances do not exist. Also, when you aren’t held accountable for any errors made, there clearly is no incentive to expend any more than the minimum necessary on record keeping accuracy…particularly if the errors are to your benefit.
By the way… there have been, and there are currently several class action suits against Chesapeake by mineral rights owners…one of them in Oklahoma. It doesn’t help us but at least some people are trying. However, my guess is that like a lot of corporations their attorneys and bean counters have advised them that it is cheaper to deal with such suits as they come up rather than actually fix any of the problems… and the bottom line is what drives those in the business of making money, which Chesapeake clearly is.
But, I do have to admit that life has led me to be rather jaded and cynical…particularly law school…some 20 years ago…I never did practice (I was in a joint program - Law & Psychology)…in part because I went in wanting to achieve justice (Perry Mason complex…the good and right always win), only to discover what a game it was that had much more to do with power and priviledge for those rich and powerful enough to influence what laws are passed…highly paid lobbys making sure their interests were protected…than anything about actual justice or fairness or even decency…
So… take my comments with a grain of salt…I’d like to believe in the trustworthiness and honesty of others, including companies, but that just hasn’t been my experience…
On the positive side, our interests are small (only 16 acres for each sister), so regarless of whether or not we’re getting less than we are entitled to, at least it isn’t an earth shattering amount by any means. It is just very disappointing that after my father and grandfather held on to this land for over 100 years with the hope that someday… when the day finally arrived we were cheated out of the whole experience since it was 2 years after the fact when we discovered what had been happening, and then the experience we do get ends up being one mishap after another. (My grandfather was an old time doctor…horse and medical bag with house calls and all…he was given the land in payment for his services…so it has been one of those interesting family stories…My Dad passed away 14 years ago and so my objective has been to try to ensure that his memory / hopes were not disrespected…and he was all about principle as a Minister…so, although the amount at issue is small, it is the principle of the thing that gets me so upset…
And, because of that, I did want to know if all that has happened has been the result of a simple series of innocent mistakes and oversights (we were just very unlucky) or if it was a result of intentional / typical patterns of disregard for mineral owners and self-interest in profits and covering their tails. Also, it would be nice to know if we have or have not gotten what we were entitled to…as small as that is…
Joni