US Attorney Investigating Puckett Resignation

The Richmond Times Dispatch is reporting that the United States Attorney's Office for the Western District of Virginia is investigating the recent and surprising resignation of state Senator Phillip Puckett.  There is a report of a grand jury convening in Abington to hear testimony on the matter.

Puckett's resignation gave the balance of power in the Virginia Senate to the Republicans who now hold a 20-19 advantage.  Prior to Puckett's resignation, the Senate was deadlocked, with the Lieutenant Governor, a Democrat, providing the tie breaking vote. 

Puckett stated that his decision to resign was motivated, in part, by Republican opposition to his daughter receiving a full-time appointment as a Juvenile and Domestic Relations judge.  She was not considered for that position, prior to Puckett's resignation, because of a belief that the Senate should not appoint judges who are family members of a sitting senator.

The Times Dispatch reports that Puckett's resignation may also have been tied to his appointment to the state tobacco commission.  Delegate Terry Kilgore, a Republican from Southwest Virginia and brother of former gubernatorial candidate Jerry Kilgore, stated that he had spoken with Puckett before his resignation about taking a job with the commission.  Puckett says that he was never officially offered a job by the tobacco commission.

The Washington Post reports that Puckett has hired Thomas J. Bondurant Jr. to represent him.  Bondurant is a former federal prosecutor in WDVa.  I saw him in action many days when I was a law clerk for Judge Wilson.  He was always one of my favorite attorneys to watch.

Judge Jones Certifies Class Action In Southwest Virginia Natural Gas Case

On Tuesday, October 1, 2013, Judge Jones issued a ruling certifying a class action in a series of five lawsuits in the Western District of Virginia (Abington Division).  In so ruling, Judge Jones accepted the report and recommendation of Magistrate Judge Pamela Meade Sargent.  I discussed Judge Sargent's report and recommendation, and the political controversy it provoked, in this blog post.

Natural gas wells are concentrated in seven counties in Southwest Virginia

The case involves $30 million in natural gas royalties that are sitting in an escrow account.  Virginia law allows energy companies to siphon gas from coal seams without the owner's permission, and then place royalties in an escrow account until ownership can be determined later.

According to the Roanoke Times:

The dispute revolves around the fact that Virginia legislators never declared whether the natural gas pulled from coal seams — called coalbed methane — belongs to the person holding the deed to the coal or the person holding the deed to the gas estate.

Ownership, and access to the royalties, must be decided either in deed-by-deed court battles, in out-of-court arbitration, or by an agreement to split the money among the gas and the coal owners.

Attorneys for the proposed class of landowners argued that a class action was necessary because the cost of an individual lawsuit by a landowner could be more than what is held in some escrow accounts.  Attorneys for the energy companies disagreed and argued that the ownership of mineral and real property interests for each individual case could not be decided in the aggregate by a class action.  At least one of the defendants indicated the intent to appeal the class certification ruling to the Fourth Circuit.

Rule 23(f) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure provides: "A court of appeals may permit an appeal from an order granting or denying class-action certification under this rule if a petition for permission to appeal is filed with the circuit clerk within 14 days after the order is entered. An appeal does not stay proceedings in the district court unless the district judge or the court of appeals so orders."