Snow v. SEECO Class Action Settlement

Snow v SEECO is an Arkansas class action settlement out of Conway County, AR proposed (as of this date not approved). It purports to refund to the class of SEECO mineral owners some $30 million …but wait! Half is somehow taken out of the mix, and the lawyers want 45% of the $30 million for their fee. That doesn’t include the expenses they claim that exceed another half million by 50% plus.
So how much will each mineral owner get? For some the sum will be so small that a postage stamp will cost more than the settlement will pay. So thousands, if not tens of thousands, of mineral owners will get nothing. That’s the reality of class action lawsuits.
With the low prices having driven out all the players that were here ten years ago, SEECO remains pretty much the last man standing. XTO is doing very little, and BHP Billiton has put its properties back on the market after writing down $2.6 billion with a “b”…and now the assets were listed as of the end of 2016 as being worth a mere 900± million…with an “m”.
Without competition, expect mineral owners to be force pooled or offered a mere 1/8th royalty, subject to post-production expenses, and perhaps $50 an acre…the same price SEECO paid before Chesapeake created real competition in the Fayetteville Shale. What a rip off for mineral owners.
We desperately need to reestablish 1/8 of the GROSS PRODUCTION VALUE as the basis for a MINIMUM royalty in the state of Arkansas. Call you local congressmen and state senators.