Court Approves $35 Million Settlement in Royalty Class Action

SANTA FE, New Mexico – On Oct. 31, 2007, the Hon. Michael Vigil of the First Judicial District Court of Santa Fe County, NM, approved a class-action settlement with Defendant BP America Production Company (BP).

The class included owners of private royalty interests and overriding royalty interest that burdened BP leases in the San Jan Basin, NM, which were productive of natural gas processed at the New Blanco Plant near Bloomfield, NM, during October 1994 through December 2006.

The Class contended that BP had underpaid royalty on natural gas liquids obtained from the processing of the gas.  Pursuant to the Court approved settlement, BP paid a total of $35 million.

The Class was represented by J.E. Gallegos of the Gallegos Law Firm in New Mexico and Thomas A. Graves and William M. Wilson of McKool Smith in Dallas.

McKool Smith has more than 90 attorneys in Dallas, Austin, Marshall, Texas and Washington DC, handling commercial and intellectual property litigation for national and international clients. The firm is recognized as one of the premier litigation law firms in the United States, having earned significant courtroom victories for clients such as Electronic Data Systems, BearingPoint, Ericsson,  Medtronic, Inc. and American Airlines.