CNX Gas Company LLC v. Miller Energy Resources Inc et al (TV1)

Filing 48

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER granting 29 Motion for Joinder. The Court will interpret the Motion to Join as incorporating a request for amendment pursuant to Rule 15 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure to add Atlas Energy Tennessee a s a defendant in CNXs complaint. The Court finds this request well-taken, and it is GRANTED. CNX shall file an amended complaint on or before April 17, 2012.Signed by Magistrate Judge C Clifford Shirley on 4/10/2012. (DCP, ) Modified on 4/10/2012 (DCP, ). Update text.

UNITED STATE DISTRICT COURT
EASTERN DISTRICT OF TENNESSEE
AT KNOXVILLE
CNX GAS COMPANY, LLC,
Plaintiff,

V.
MILLER ENERGY RESOURCES, INC.,
CHEVRON APPALACHIA, LLC,
CRESTA STRATEGIES, LLC, and
SCOTT BORUFF,
Defendants.

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No. 3:11-CV-362
(VARLAN/SHIRLEY)

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER
This case is before the undersigned pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 636, the Rules of this Court,
and the order of the District Judge [Doc. 34] referring the Motion to Join Third Party as
Defendant [Doc. 29], filed by Plaintiff CNX Gas Company, LLC, (“CNX”), to the undersigned
for disposition or report and recommendation as may be appropriate.
In the Motion to Join, CNX moves the Court to join Atlas Energy Tennessee, LLC, (“Atlas
Energy Tennessee”), as a defendant in this action.

Defendant Chevron Appalachia, LLC,

(“Chevron”), has responded in opposition to the Motion to Join. Chevron argues that the Motion to
Join incorrectly applies Tennessee, substantive law, seeks joinder outside the scope of Rule 20, and
directly contradicts a position already taken by CNX in this case. [Doc. 33]. Chevron contends that
the Motion to Join should be denied, but in the alternative, Chevron proposed that the Court grant
both the Motion to Dismiss Chevron and the Motion to Join, thereby, substituting Atlas Energy
Tennessee for Chevron. [Doc. 33 at 1].
The other parties to this case did not take a position on the Motion to Join.

The parties appeared before the Court, initially, on February 27, 2012, to address the Motion
to Join. The Court heard arguments from CNX and Chevron, found that the parties’ positions on
what entities should be parties were not extremely divergent and concluded that the parties were in
the best position to determine what entities should be parties to this action, and instructed the parties
to attempt to compromise amongst themselves regarding joinder and/or substitution. CNX and
Chevron both filed supplements in the record following this hearing, [Docs. 43, 46].
CNX and Chevron were not able to reach an agreement, and the Court set this matter for a
second hearing. At the hearing held April 9, 2012, Attorneys Wesley Shipe and Charles VanBeke
were present representing CNX.

Attorneys Matthew Evans and Daniel Headrick were present

representing Chevron. Attorney Stephen Marcum was present representing Miller Energy Resources,
Inc., and Attorneys Lawrence Leibowitz and Jennifer Knapp Hemmelgarn were present representing
Scott Boruff. The Court heard from both CNX and Chevron, and none of the other parties stated any
position on this matter. 1
At the hearing, both CNX and Chevron appeared to agree that Atlas America, LLC, was the
alleged tortfeasor of the torts for which this suit seeks redress. Chevron maintained that Atlas Energy
Tennessee had assumed the liabilities of Atlas America, LLC, though the Court would note that the
implications of and parameters of this assumption was never fully clarified by either party. Despite
its initial written opposition to the Motion to Join, counsel for Chevron conceded at the hearing that
Atlas Energy Tennessee should be a party to this action. Chevron, however, maintained that if Atlas
Energy Tennessee became a party to this case, then Chevron should be dismissed from this suit. 2

1

Attorney Michael Gilmore, counsel for Cresta Capital Strategies, LLC, contacted the chambers of the undersigned
following this hearing and stated that he had inadvertently missed the conference due to a calendaring error on his
part. He stated that Cresta Capital Strategies took no position on this issue.
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Counsel for Chevron stated that he had proposed a compromise of effectively substituting Atlas Energy Tennessee
by joining it and at the same time dismissing Chevron, without prejudice, but had received no response from counsel
for the Plaintiff. At the hearing, Plaintiff’s counsel declined the proposal.
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The propriety of whether Chevron should be dismissed from the suit is the subject of Chevron’s
Motion to Dismiss [Doc. 19], which is pending before the District Judge.
Pursuant to Rule 20 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, persons or entities may be
joined in one action as defendants if “any right to relief is asserted against them jointly, severally, or
in the alternative with respect to or arising out of the same transaction, occurrence, or series of
transactions or occurrences,” at issue in this matter. Fed. R. Civ. P. 20(a)(1)(A). In this case, the
Court finds that Atlas Energy Tennessee may be joined in this action because CNX will assert a right
to relief against Atlas Energy “jointly, severally, or in the alternative with respect to or arising out of
the same transaction, occurrence, or series of transactions or occurrences.” The Court, therefore,
finds that the Motion to Join [Doc. 29] is well-taken, and it is GRANTED.
The Court will interpret the Motion to Join as incorporating a request for amendment
pursuant to Rule 15 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure to add Atlas Energy Tennessee as a
defendant in CNX’s complaint. The Court finds this request well-taken, and it is GRANTED. CNX
shall file an amended complaint on or before April 17, 2012.

IT IS SO ORDERED.
ENTER:
s/ C. Clifford Shirley, Jr.
United States Magistrate Judge

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