Deal On Suit Over Drilling

A U.S. District Judge in Erie has been asked to approve a nearly $29 million settlement between Range Resources and nearly 2,000 Pennsylvania leaseholders. The drilling company, which has a division based near Canonsburg, would pay the plaintiffs, who leased their land for drilling, about $1.75 million immediately and more than $20 million over several years. The leaseholders filed a class action lawsuit in 2008 claiming Range Resources did not adequately compensate them for the drilling rights in the Marcellus Shale formation. About $7 million of the settlement goes for attorneys' fees.
As part of the proposed settlement, the company does not acknowledge wrongdoing.