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Rothman Gordon
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Do Oil and Gas Companies Fall Within the Unfair Trade Practices And Consumer Protection Law (UTPCPL)?

On March 15, 2019, the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania held that the Pennsylvania Commonwealth through its Attorney General stated legally viable claims against certain oil and gas lessees under Pennsylvania's Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law ("UTPCPL"), 73 P.S. § 201-1, et seq., based upon the lessees' allegedly unfair conduct in obtaining subsurface mineral leases.

Pennsylvania's Attorney General filed suit against Anadarko Petroleum Corporation and Anadarko E&P Onshore, LLC ("Anadarko") as well as Chesapeake Energy Corporation, Chesapeake Appalachia, LLC, Chesapeake Operating, LLC and Chesapeake Energy Marketing, LLC ("Chesapeake"). In the Complaint, the Attorney General alleged that under the UTPCPL, Anadarko and Chesapeake acted unlawfully by using deceptive, misleading and unfair tactics in their efforts to secure subsurface mineral rights leases from private landowners. These leases allowed Anadarko and Chesapeake to extract natural gas from the Marcellus Shale formations underneath the private landowners' properties in exchange for royalties and other types of payments.

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