Justin H Werner

November 21, 2019 | The Legal Intelligencer

On Nov. 5, the Pennsylvania Environmental Defense Foundation filed a new petition in the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court against the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) challenging the DCNR's state forest resource management plan, adopted in 2016.

By Justin H. Werner

4 minute read

September 12, 2019 | The Legal Intelligencer

The panel reasoned that the other one third of rental payments and up-front lease bonuses constituted "income" that was outside the scope of Article I, Section 27, also known as the Environmental Rights Amendment (the ERA).

By Justin H. Werner

5 minute read

November 15, 2018 | The Legal Intelligencer

In a recent en banc decision by the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court, the court upheld a local ordinance that authorized the development of unconventional oil and gas wells in areas zoned residential and agricultural against a challenge by residents asserting that the ordinance violated the Pennsylvania Constitution's Environmental Rights Amendment.

By Justin H. Werner

5 minute read

September 20, 2018 | The Legal Intelligencer

On Aug. 29, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court declined to accept discretionary appeals in two separate cases (No. 952 C.D. 2017 and No. 942 C.D. 2017) relating to the construction of the Mariner East 2 pipeline

By Justin H. Werner

5 minute read

January 19, 2017 | The Legal Intelligencer

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court previously rejected a broad equitable tolling doctrine under oil and gas leases where a lessor only has filed a declaratory judgment action seeking to invalidate the oil and gas lease.

By Justin H. Werner

10 minute read

January 19, 2016 | The Legal Intelligencer

On Jan. 5, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit issued a decision answering the question of whether language in an arbitration clause referencing "the rules of the American Arbitration Association" was sufficient to rebut the presumption that the court, not the arbitrator, decided whether a class action arbitration was agreed to by the parties, as in Chesapeake Appalachia v. Scout Petroleum, No. 14-1275, 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 42 (3d Cir. Jan. 5, 2016).

By Justin H. Werner

7 minute read

July 14, 2015 | The Legal Intelligencer

The inclusion of an arbitration clause in oil and gas leases throughout the Appalachia region, requiring that parties arbitrate disputes arising out of their leases, has become commonplace. As development of these leases continues and royalties are paid for production, disputes over the meaning of lease provisions concerning payment are occurring more frequently. A relatively new battlefront in these arbitrations that is being played out in Pennsylvania right now is whether class-action arbitrations of these lease disputes are authorized.

By Justin H. Werner

6 minute read

July 13, 2015 | The Legal Intelligencer

The inclusion of an arbitration clause in oil and gas leases throughout the Appalachia region, requiring that parties arbitrate disputes arising out of their leases, has become commonplace. As development of these leases continues and royalties are paid for production, disputes over the meaning of lease provisions concerning payment are occurring more frequently. A relatively new battlefront in these arbitrations that is being played out in Pennsylvania right now is whether class-action arbitrations of these lease disputes are authorized.

By Justin H. Werner

6 minute read

December 23, 2014 | The Legal Intelligencer

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court will soon decide if Pennsylvania will join the majority of other oil-and-gas-producing jurisdictions in recognizing the equitable principle that where a lessor files a lawsuit seeking to invalidate an oil and gas lease that is later adjudicated against the lessor, the primary term of the lease may be extended by the length of the period of uncertainty cast by the litigation.

By Justin H. Werner, Lucas Liben and Thomas J. Galligan

7 minute read