Damages

Range Resources Corp. won permission from a Texas appeals court to proceed with a defamation lawsuit seeking $3 million in damages from a man who accused the company of tainting his drinking water with drilling activities in the Barnett Shale (see Shale Daily, April 4). Two of the company’s claims against Steven Lipsky were allowed to stand by the Second Court of Appeals in Fort Worth. However, it ordered the trial court in Weatherford, TX, to dismiss Range’s claims against Lipsky’s wife, Shyla, and environmental consultant Alisa Rich, who was hired to assist in the lawsuit. The plaintiffs have claimed that Range tainted the Lipsky water well, but the Railroad Commission of Texas found otherwise after it investigated. While the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency also had blamed Range for contaminating the well, the agency later backed down (see Shale Daily, Feb. 13; Feb. 21, 2012).

Antero Resources disturbed an aquifer while attempting to dislodge a stuck drillbit at a new Marcellus Shale natural gas well in West Virginia’s Harrison County on Wednesday morning, causing blowouts at four abandoned private water wells.

Attorneys for the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and an EQT Corp. subsidiary plan to appeal a Doddridge County judge’s ruling allowing a surface owner to have a gas well permit issued by the DEP revoked.

A federal judge in Pennsylvania has denied a motion by Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. to dismiss a case brought by Dimock Township, PA, residents who claim that their health and property has been harmed by the producer’s natural gas activities.

Morgan Stanley & Co. last Monday filed a lawsuit seeking damages of $40.6 million from hedge fund Peak Ridge Master SPC Ltd. for allegedly defaulting on bad bets made on natural gas trades.

Morgan Stanley & Co. Monday filed a lawsuit Monday seeking damages of $40.6 million from hedge fund Peak Ridge Master SPC Ltd. for allegedly defaulting on contracts in the natural gas market.

The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee voted Wednesday to remove the cap on a producer’s liability for economic damages from oil spills on the federal Outer Continental Shelf (OCS).

Citing damages sustained from Hurricane Ike to its offshore Louisiana facility at Eugene Island 296, ANR declared a force majeure event and said it is not accepting receipt nominations from 10 meters (see the bulletin board for list).

A U.S. District Court judge last week awarded $347.3 million in damages to Bank of America Corp. in a lawsuit originally filed by American Electric Power (AEP) four years ago in the midst of Enron Corp.’s bankruptcy proceedings.