Members of the group have represented private citizens and the State of Mississippi in natural resources and environmental cases. We have successfully recovered for claims involving toxic contamination and exposure. We have represented the State of Mississippi in complex matters relating to natural resources, including groundwater and tidelands protection. We have successfully litigated claims against oil and gas companies for underpayments to royalty owners.
Our group currently represents the state of Mississippi against the state of Tennessee in Mississippi v. Tennessee, a case of original jurisdiction with the United States Supreme Court. Mississippi filed suit against Tennessee for intentionally and forcibly taking groundwater that belongs to Mississippi through the use of the Memphis Sand Aquifer. The lawsuit seeks $615 million dollars in damages.
The following are examples of cases that our attorneys have litigated in the past:
On November 22, 2004, Don Barrett was appointed Plaintiffs’ Co-lead Counsel in In Re High Sulfur Content Gasoline Products Liability Litigation (MDL No. 1632), by U.S. District Judge Ivan L.R.Lemelle of the Eastern District of Louisiana. A $100 million plus settlement was finally approved by the Court in September of 2006.
Don Barrett and his firm were co-lead counsel in a class action lawsuit (Holman v. Noble Energy, Inc., District Court County of Weld, Colorado) brought on behalf of royalty owners in the Greater Wattenberg natural gas field in Colorado. This suit, which complained of systematic under-payments of royalties by a major natural gas producer, resulted in a $98 million settlement for the class. This settlement received final approval by the Colorado court on June 11, 2007. Since that time, we have achieved class settlements in four similar cases. These five cases have produced settlements exceeding $150 million.
Don Barrett also served as co-lead counsel in several similar cases Western District of Virginia. In the smallest of these cases, a settlement of $3.4 million, which recovers over 95% of all compensatory damages claimed by the plaintiff class, received final approval by the District Court on October 4, 2011. In approving the fee application for that case, Judge James P. Jones complimented our work, adding, “I’m sure the class realizes that, were it not for the experienced and well-resourced counsel in this case, there would be no recovery.”