Josh Swanson, Vogel Law Firm, talks about the December 24, 2020, deadline for North Dakota to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars owed to mineral owners.
The core of the issue is, about a decade ago, the state of North Dakota decided they owned the minerals under Lake Sakakwea, even though when the land was sold, those land owners retained their mineral royalties up to the bed of where the river once was. This deal was struct with the Army Corps of Engineers in the 1940’s when the federal government began the creation of the Garrison Dam on Lake Sakakawea.
The Wilkinson Family owns 286 acres of oil and gas mineral rights, which are now under the Missouri River reservoir near Williston. After over a decade of spending hundreds of thousands of dollars in a legal battle against the state of North Dakota and winning two state supreme court rulings, they are finally going to see a payment on December 24th. Except they might not.
After two North Dakota Supreme Court victories, Swanson and his mineral owner clients are still having issues with the state of North Dakota paying past royalties.
The state has attempted to redraw the mineral rights boundary lines twice since 2009, attempting to usurp the Flood Control Act of 1944, resulting in more attorney fees for all parties, diverted resources towards this case and mineral owners kept in limbo. Many have speculated if there are state-level special interests or petty politics involved.
“This lawsuit has gone on so long there have been family members that have passed and kids who have graduated high school and college,” Swanson said. “The state has deprived so much from the Wilkinson family already, to think they are continuing to not recognize my client’s rights, after being told twice by the state supreme court is beyond and injustice.”
Since the state has decided to continue to operate with their interpretaion of the law and not the state supreme court, Swanson and his clients have opened a civil case against the state, looking for damages for the decade spent in legal battles. That court date has been pushed back to at least April.
And because of the civil suit, the state is already using that action as a reason to push everything back to April, including the $900,000 owed in royalties.
Swanson says if the payment is not made to the family by the 25th, there will be more litigation coming. In addition to a claim for relief into the existing litigation, there’s also going to be a filing for a motion requesting the state pay for all the Wilkinsons’ back attorney fees.
Swanson also talks about The North Face rejection of business from the oil and gas industry. Swanson and host Jason Spiess wondered how close to comparison this was to the “baker refusing to bake for the same sex wedding” case from several years ago.
Spiess asked Swanson if there was any legal issue or shareholder issues for a public company rejecting business during a time of tax payer bailouts and social governance policies.
The interview concluded with sports talk. In addition to his legal profession, Swanson is the host of several North Dakota State University Bison radio and podcast programs. Carson Wentz’ future with the Philadelphia Eagles and the concept of new beginnings in organizations are also discussed in the sports portion of the interview.
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