WALNEY v. SWEPI LP et al

Filing 133

ORDER GRANTING 117 plaintiffs' Second Motion to Amend Class Definition; GRANTING 114 the parties' Joint Motion (Contested) for Approval of Plan of Class Action Notice, and directing that the parties incorporate modifications to the class notice forms and class notice order as set forth in the accompanying Opinion; DENYING AS MOOT 127 plaintiffs' Motion to Expedite Entry of Orders. Signed by Chief Judge Joy Flowers Conti on 01/23/2017. (kas)

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA
THOMAS J. WALNEY and
RODNEY A. BEDOW, SR.,
individually and on behalf of all
others similarly situated,
Plaintiffs,
v.
SWEPI LP and SHELL ENERGY
HOLDING GP, LLC,
Defendants.

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CIVIL ACTION No. 13-102 Erie

ORDER
AND NOW, this 23th day of January, 2017, upon consideration of plaintiffs’ Second
Motion to Amend Class Definition (ECF No. 117), the parties’ Joint Contested Motion for
Approval of Plan of Class Action Notice (ECF No. 114), plaintiffs’ Motion to Expedite Entry of
Orders (ECF No. 127), and all related submissions, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED, for the reasons
set forth in the accompanying Opinion, that plaintiffs’ Second Motion to Amend Class Definition
is GRANTED, and the class shall now be defined as:
Every person who on or after March 14, 2009, signed a Pennsylvania oil and gas
lease (labeled “PA Paid Up Lease Rev. 06.09.2011” or “PA Paid Up Lease Rev.
05.01.2011”) and/or memorandum thereof in favor of and recorded by SWEPI,
LP and received, in exchange therefore, a draft instrument in the amount of the
corresponding lease bonus, which draft was neither paid nor replaced by a
subsequently issued draft or check relating to the same (or substantially the same)
property.
Exclusions. Notwithstanding the foregoing, there shall be excluded from the
Class any Person electing in writing or email to be excluded from the Class, and
any Person whose individual claim for payment of the lease bonus has been
sustained or denied by a verdict or dispositive order of a court in a separate
lawsuit, irrespective of the outcome of any appeal.

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IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the parties’ Joint Contested Motion for Approval of
Plan of Class Action Notice is GRANTED, and the parties are hereby directed to incorporate
modifications to the class notice forms and class notice order, as set forth in the accompanying
Opinion. The parties’ revised forms of class notice and revised class notice order shall be
submitted to the court for final approval on or before February 6, 2017.
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that plaintiffs’ Motion to Expedite Entry of Orders is
DENIED as moot.

By the court,

/s/ Joy Flowers Conti
Joy Flowers Conti
Chief United States District Judge

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