Chesapeake Energy has once again become the target of a lawsuit by property owners in the North Texas Barnett Shale region alleging the producer underpaid millions of dollars of royalties to them. In a suit filed in District Court of Dallas County, more than 30 North Texas businesses and individuals are suing Chesapeake and Total USA, alleging that Oklahoma City-based Chesapeake’s $588 million sale of assets to New York hedge fund Global Infrastructure Partners in 2009 resulted in the charging of unreasonable fees on royalties. The lawsuit, which involves oil and gas leases covering more than 5,400 mineral acres and more than 750 producing gas wells in Tarrant, Johnson and Ellis counties in Texas, alleges that the sale was structured to benefit Chesapeake at the expense of royalty owners. “Chesapeake structured its midstream asset sale and transportation agreements in such a way that the lessors and royalty owners bore […]