McCall v. Chesapeake Energy Corp.

817 F. Supp. 2d 307, 177 Oil & Gas Rep. 823, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 103377, 2011 WL 4056310
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedSeptember 13, 2011
DocketNo. 10 Civ. 8897(DLC)
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 817 F. Supp. 2d 307 (McCall v. Chesapeake Energy Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
McCall v. Chesapeake Energy Corp., 817 F. Supp. 2d 307, 177 Oil & Gas Rep. 823, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 103377, 2011 WL 4056310 (S.D.N.Y. 2011).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

DENISE COTE, District Judge.

Plaintiff Mary Linda McCall (“McCall”) brought this purported class action against the defendants1 (“Defendants”) on November 24, 2010. In the amended complaint filed on March 18, 2011 (“Complaint”), McCall alleged claims for breach of contract, conversion, civil conspiracy to commit conversion, and accounting.2 The Defendants filed a motion to dismiss the Complaint on April 8, 2011. The motion was fully submitted on May 13. For the following reasons, the motion to dismiss is granted.

BACKGROUND

The following facts are taken from the plaintiffs complaint unless otherwise noted, and assumed to be true for the purposes of this motion. LaFaro v. New York Cardiothoracic Group, PLLC, 570 F.3d 471, 475 (2d Cir.2009). McCall is a nonoperating working interest owner3 in several wells (the “McCall Wells”) located in Beckham County, Oklahoma and operated by a non-defendant affiliate of the Chesapeake Defendants, identified by the Defendants as Chesapeake Operating LLC (“Chesapeake Operating”). McCall has an interest in these wells as a party to joint operating agreements (“JOAs”).4 In the Complaint, McCall alleges that she is a party to “at least two” JOAs, and she does not deny that the two JOAs which the Defendants identified are the relevant ones in this action .(the “McCall Well JOAs”). The McCall Well JOAs are dated July 2, 1973 and April 5, 1979. Certain Chesapeake Defendants are parties to other JOAs to which members of the purported class (the “Purported Class”) are parties (together with the McCall Well JOAs, the “Purported Class JOAs”).

A JOA controls the relationship between co-tenants in a mineral property. The Purported Class JOAs are all based on a [311]*311form document known as the AAPL Model Form Operating Agreement, which has been widely used for decades. Pursuant to the Purported Class JOAs, the working interest owners have joint ownership of the unproduced oil, gas and mineral reserves in the ground.

The clauses McCall alleges are most relevant to the claims of the Purported Class are identical in each of the Purported Class JOAs. These clauses identify the proportional interests of the parties to the JOA (“Interests of the Parties Clause”), prevent a working interest owner from selling or assigning only a portion of its interest (“Maintenance of Uniform Ownership Interest Clause”), require that any interests created subsequent to the execution of the JOA shall be made subject to the JOA (“Subsequently Created Interest Clause”), and prevent a working interest owner from dividing its interests (“Waiver of Rights to Partition Clause”). McCall acknowledges that the Purported Class JOAs allow a working interest owner to sell or assign the entirety of its interests under a particular JOA.

Three of the Chesapeake Defendants, Chesapeake Investments, LP (“Chesapeake Investments”), Chesapeake Exploration, LLC (“Chesapeake Exploration”) and Aubrey McClendon (“McClendon”), the Chairman and CEO of Chesapeake Energy Corporation (“Chesapeake Energy”), have entered into ten volumetric production payment transactions (“VPPs”) with certain of the Bank Defendants since December 31, 2007. These VPPs (the “Purported Class VPPs”) are identically structured.5 Chesapeake has an interest in the minerals at issue in each of the Purported Class VPPs, but it does not have sole ownership; members of the Purported Class are also working interest owners of the minerals at issue. McCall purports to represent all these working interest owners with interests in wells that are subject to one of the Purported Class VPPs.

Some of the Bank Defendants “originate” and/or “market” the Purported Class VPPs. Through the Purported Class VPPs, oil and gas is sold to certain Bank Defendants, and Chesapeake Investments later buys back these resources. Chesapeake delivers the gas and oil to the participating Bank Defendants free of costs.

Defendants concede that three of the ten Purported Class VPPs concern Chesapeake Investment’s interests in the McCall Wells. These are:

1) a VPP dated January 31, 2008 between McClendon, Chesapeake Investments and TW Investors, LLC (“TW Investors VPP”);
2) a VPP dated August 1, 2008 between Chesapeake Exploration and Sooner Gas Trust (“Sooner VPP”); and
3) a VPP dated August 21, 2008 between McClendon, Chesapeake Investments and Blue Devil Trust (“Blue Devil VPP”).

McCall argues that certain Bank Defendants are receiving deliveries from her wells through as many as five VPPs. The Complaint identifies which five VPPs are connected to wells in Oklahoma, where the McCall Wells are located. In addition to the ones identified by the Defendants, these are:

1) a VPP dated December 31, 2008 between Chesapeake Exploration and Argonaut VPP, LLC (“Argonaut VPP”); and
[312]*3122) a VPP dated May 2008 between Chesapeake Exploration and High Plains Gas Trust (“High Plains VPP”)6

(collectively, the “McCall Well VPPs”). McCall alleges that the Bank Defendants that entered into the VPPs with the Chesapeake Defendants are “nominal entities existing on paper only and . exist only as conduits for the banks to ‘loan’ money to for the purpose of funding the VPP transactions.”

McCall alleges that, as a result of the Purported Class VPPs, and pursuant to the Purported Class JOAs, McCall and the Purported Class are entitled to proceeds from oil and gas sales which they have not received. She also alleges that through the Purported Class VPPs, the Defendants are converting the Purported Class’s share of gas and oil.

DISCUSSION

Defendants have moved to dismiss McCall’s complaint on various grounds. First, they argue that because McCall lacks Article III standing to assert claims arising out of the Purported Class JOAs that she is not a party to any Purported Class VPPs that are not McCall Well VPPs, those claims, and the defendants not party to the McCall Well VPPs, should be dismissed. Second, the Defendants contend that the allegations ignore their corporate forms and make allegations regarding groups of Defendants without specifying which actions were taken by any individual defendant. Finally, the Defendants argue that McCall fails to state claims for breach of contract, conversion, civil conspiracy and an accounting for which relief can be granted pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6).

“Under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 8(a)(2), a pleading must contain a ‘short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief.’ ” Iqbal, 129 S.Ct. at 1949. To survive a motion to dismiss, “a complaint must contain sufficient factual matter, accepted as true, to state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.” Id. (citation omitted). Applying this plausibility standard is “a context-specific task that requires the reviewing court to draw on its judicial experience and common sense.” Id. at 1950.

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817 F. Supp. 2d 307, 177 Oil & Gas Rep. 823, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 103377, 2011 WL 4056310, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mccall-v-chesapeake-energy-corp-nysd-2011.