3rd Circuit Revives XTO Bid to Arbitrate PA Royalty Claims

A federal appeals court has handed XTO Energy (ExxonMobil's shale subsidiary) a win in a long-running Western Pennsylvania royalty lawsuit, ruling Monday that XTO did NOT give up its right to push some landowners into private arbitration — even though it spent 55 months litigating the case before it asked. The case is Salvatora v. XTO Energy Inc., a cousin of the Kriley case MDN has also followed. Same defendant, same Pittsburgh courthouse, same plaintiffs' firm, same complaint: landowners say XTO shaved too much off their royalty checks for "post-production costs" — the gathering, compression, and processing charges that move gas from the wellhead to a buyer.

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