J&R Passmore, LLC v. Rice Drilling D, LLC

CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Ohio
DecidedOctober 14, 2020
Docket2:18-cv-01587
StatusUnknown

This text of J&R Passmore, LLC v. Rice Drilling D, LLC (J&R Passmore, LLC v. Rice Drilling D, LLC) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Ohio primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
J&R Passmore, LLC v. Rice Drilling D, LLC, (S.D. Ohio 2020).

Opinion

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF OHIO EASTERN DIVISION

J&R PASSMORE, LLC, et al.,

Plaintiffs,

v. Civil Action 2:18-cv-1587 Judge Sarah D. Morrison Magistrate Judge Jolson RICE DRILLING D, LLC, et al.,

Defendants.

OPINION AND ORDER

This matter is before the Court on Plaintiffs’ Motions to Compel (Docs. 168, 169, 170, 171); Motions for Sanctions Against Defendants Gulfport Energy Corporation (“Gulfport”) (Doc. 168) and Rice Drilling D, LLC (“Rice”) (Doc. 169); and Motion to Strike Defendant’s Untimely Response (Doc. 180), as well as Gulfport’s Motion for Extension (Doc. 184). For the reasons that follow, Plaintiffs’ Motions to Compel are GRANTED in part and DENIED in part. Plaintiffs’ request for sanctions against Rice is DENIED, and Plaintiffs’ request for sanctions against Gulfport is HELD IN ABEYANCE pending Gulfport’s compliance with the directives in this Opinion and Order. Finally, Plaintiffs’ Motion to Strike is DENIED, and Gulfport’s Motion for Extension is GRANTED. I. BACKGROUND This is a dispute over oil and gas rights in Belmont County, Ohio. Between 2011 and 2013, Plaintiffs and “many of their neighbors” conveyed their rights to Defendant Rice to produce oil and gas from two geological formations, Marcellus Shale and Utica Shale. (Doc. 1 at ¶¶ 39–40). Rice entered into joint venture agreements with Defendants Gulfport, Ascent Resources-Utica, LLC (“Ascent”), and XTO Energy Inc. (“XTO”) to drill and share revenue from the wells producing oil and gas beneath Plaintiffs’ properties. (See generally Doc. 1). But Plaintiffs allege Defendants produced and sold more than the leases permitted. (See generally Doc. 1). Specifically, the parties’ point of contention is the production and sale of oil and gas from the Point Pleasant Formation, which lies below the base of the Utica Shale Formation. Plaintiffs believe they reserved their rights to the oil and gas produced from that formation. (Id. at ¶ 44).

Accordingly, they seek damages for collective trespass, conversion, and unjust enrichment. (See generally Doc. 1). Defendants maintain that everyone involved knew that “Utica Shale,” as it appeared in the class leases, included rights to Point Pleasant. (See generally Docs. 174–179). Discovery began, and in July of this year, the parties encountered numerous discovery disputes, namely concerning Plaintiffs’ second set of requests for production served on February 21, 2020. The parties resolved a handful of disputes extrajudicially. (See Docs. 152, 153, 156, 159, 160). The Court ordered expedited briefing on the disputes they were unable to resolve. (Doc. 160). All but Gulfport, which filed its response one week late (Doc. 179), complied with the Court’s expedited briefing schedule. Plaintiffs thus ask the Court to strike Gulfport’s untimely

response or, alternatively, grant them leave to file a sur-reply. (Doc. 180). Once aware of the issue, Gulfport sought an extension of time, explaining that its counsel was in trial and “inadvertently overlooked” the Court’s briefing schedule. (Doc. 184). The Court notes, as do Plaintiffs, that Gulfport’s response mostly repeats the other Defendants’ positions. Thus, another reply from Plaintiffs would be superfluous. Consequently, the Court, in its discretion, DENIES Plaintiffs’ Motion to Strike and GRANTS Gulfport’s Motion for Extension. And Plaintiffs’ Motions to Compel are now ripe for resolution. II. STANDARD Two federal rules matter here. Rule 26(b) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure provides that “[p]arties may obtain discovery regarding any nonprivileged matter that is relevant to any party’s claim or defense and proportional to the needs of the case.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(b)(1). Rule 37, for its part, allows for a motion to compel discovery when a party fails to answer interrogatories

submitted under Rule 33 or to provide proper responses to requests for production of documents under Rule 34. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 37(a)(1), (3). “The proponent of a motion to compel discovery bears the initial burden of proving that the information sought is relevant.” Gruenbaum v. Werner Enters., Inc., 270 F.R.D. 298, 302 (S.D. Ohio 2010) (citation omitted). “Relevant evidence” is evidence that “has any tendency to make a fact more or less probable than it would be without the evidence,” and “the fact is of consequence in determining the action.” Fed. R. Evid. 401. “While relevancy is broad, ‘district courts have discretion to limit the scope of discovery [when] the information sought is overly broad or would prove unduly burdensome to produce.’” Plain Local Sch. Dist. Bd. of Educ. v. DeWine, 335 F.R.D. 115, 119 (N.D. Ohio 2020) (alteration

in original) (quoting Surles ex rel. Johnson v. Greyhound, Lines, Inc., 474 F.3d 288, 305 (6th Cir. 2007)). At base, “the scope of discovery is within the sound discretion of the trial court.” Stumph v. Spring View Physician Practices, LLC, No. 3:19-CV-00053-LLK, 2020 WL 68587, at *2 (W.D. Ky. Jan. 7, 2020) (quotation marks and citations omitted). III. DISCUSSION Plaintiffs’ discovery requests fall into two categories. First, as the Court noted in its September 14, 2020, Order (Doc. 173), as part of the parties’ extrajudicial agreements regarding discovery, Defendants agreed to produce certain documents responsive to Plaintiffs’ second set of requests for production. But Gulfport apparently failed to produce a single agreed-upon document (see generally Doc. 168), and Rice and XTO failed to complete this production within a reasonable amount of time (see generally Docs. 169, 170). Plaintiffs now move to compel this discovery and request that the Court impose firm deadlines for this production. (See generally Docs. 168, 169, 170). The other category consists of requests for production to which all or nearly all Defendants

object. These include requests for: (1) information related to the language used in Defendants’ oil and gas contracts; (2) sales contracts and statements for the sale of oil and gas production from the class wells; (3) information concerning “gas in place” and “estimated ultimate recovery”; (4) “well decks” and royalty interest ownership; and (5) class operating agreements. The Court addresses the agreed-upon discovery before turning to Defendants’ discovery objections. A. Agreed-Upon Discovery As explained, Gulfport, Rice, and XTO agreed to produce on a rolling basis certain documents responsive to Plaintiffs’ outstanding discovery requests. But Gulfport failed to do so, and Rice and XTO apparently dragged their feet. (See generally Docs. 168, 169, 170). Defendants

respond, namely, that the discovery requests are time consuming, and they are working to produce the documents. (See generally Docs. 174, 175, 176, 179). But as Plaintiffs note, class discovery currently closes on November 15, 2020, and Plaintiffs served these requests in late February. The Court thus GRANTS Plaintiffs’ Motions to Compel the outstanding agreed-upon discovery and ORDERS the following:  Gulfport shall produce, within twenty-one (21) days of the date of this Opinion and Order, the four categories of documents it agreed to produce in the parties’ July 17, 2020, joint status report (Doc. 159 at 3–4).

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