I have the latest paperwork/contract with me for a change (I have to take a bus to a library to use a computer and most of the time I have to go elsewhere after posting so I seldom have all the paperwork with me.)
This was the first contact I had in regards to my "owning" property in Ritchie County, WV:
"Our client, Antero Resources Corporation ("Antero") has informed us that you APPEAR ( I capitalized this, lower case on the paper) to own a fractional mineral interest in 42 acres in Ritchie County, West Virginia, Antero has been trying to obtain a lease from you to accommodate development of oil and gas underlying this tract,"
QUESTION: If they had in fact been trying to obtain a lease on this property why is it that this was the FIRST contact they made? A party actually has to try before they cane claim what is stated here. And NO, this is a legal matter and every word means something. Thinking, "Oh well, whatever!" ends up costing YOU money after when the case goes to trial.
The next paragraph illustrates what I mean:
"It is my understanding that you have not yet executed the lease. If you maintain this position and refuse to participate in the development of this tract, Antero will have no choice but to file suit against you and ask the Court to partition the fractional interest you own (etc.)"
So what is wrong with this statement? This was written in the cover letter of the FIRST CONTACT the corporation made. Paragraph #1 is the first I heard of my name being on a handful of dirt in WV, paragraph #2 starts ARC's claim to the court that they "tried to settle the dispute" by telling me to roll over and hand them the mineral rights or be punished.
Yes, lawyers write letters like that in order to create income through law suits, BUT, if a little thought had gone into this letter the problem could have come to an end with a simple phone call. As indicated in a post I just read here this morning, it would have been nice if the lawyer had taken the time to inform me the name of the "relative" that willed this hunk of land to me.
If the lawyer was telling the truth the statement of ARC trying to contact me wouldn't be in the cover letter.
At the end of the last paragraph in the cover letter: "If you do not execute and return these documents, I urge you to engage in negotiations with Antero so that you can seek the maximum benefit from the oil and gas lease AND AVOID LITIGATION (again, I capitalized this, it was in lower case in the original letter)."
It further tells me to contact a certain party, I will not list it here, by February 66, 2017. "If he does not hear from you by February 6, 2017, Antero will have no choice but to file suit to protect its interests".
If you can not read this and NOT think I was given no choice to sign or else, it it YOU who needs a lawyer to protect YOUR interests in life.
I received this letter on 1/28/2017, it was dated 1/26/2017. But you ask why I received this on a Sunday? Thanks to the mail from Antero and my local county government I have discovered letters which require my signing for in my mailbox with the paper work still attached and this letter was delivered sometime between 8 pm on the 27th and 9 am Sunday morning. I reported this to USPS and the party responsible was fired.
RCR 2/25/2017