Several land owners met in Emmet County to explore their options
EMMET CO., MI -- Hundreds of people fought Thursday night against an oil and gas company that promised payouts, but delivered problems.
In the last year, many people across the area had an oil and gas company come to their house, negotiate, and agree to a contract to lease mineral rights under their land.
But recently, several of these homeowners received a letter stating the contract is void.
It was a record year for oil and gas companies in Northern Michigan. They were working in overdrive securing land they hoped would deliver. The company thought the Smith's land had the goods and it agreed to pay the family more than eleven thousand dollars to lease the mineral rights on 16 acres of land.
"It's going to make this easier, it would have made things easier," said Tami Smith, a land owner.
But In August, a certified piece of mail was hard to grasp.
”We received notice that we were rejected because we owed a mortgage on our home," said Smith.
Where the Smith's house sits, they still own a mortgage on that 3/4 of an acre, but on a separate piece of land, they have it paid off. They're wonder why aren't they getting paid for this?
The Smith's didn't know what to do, and they weren't the only ones.
“We want to tell you about your remedies are, and litigation against the oil and gas companies," said Lawyer Susan Topp.
Topp says there's some wrongdoing going on, and that's why she, and others, volunteered time to help the affected land owners.
"The question is does the existence of a mortgage entitle the oil and gas company to cancel the lease? Our position on that, at least primarily, is no, it doesn't," said Topp.
"This crushed a lot of people's lives, there were a lot of people, there were some hopes here, there was some big money involved," said David Petty, another land owner who had his contract voided.
Petty works in the oil and gas business. He said he helped organize the event to stand up against the corporation.
“They'll pay, we're going to make them pay," said Petty.
I asked Susan Topp, “Have you ever seen anything such wide-scale, so many people being promised and having that binding contract, and then everything just gone?"
She responded, “No."
She believes there will be a case for people willing to take the next step against the companies, and for every wrong, the counsel said, there's a remedy, under the law.
