SPRINGFIELD, Ill., Nov. 8, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- A judge rendered a judgment of $3.8 million against White County Coal, LLC and two other affiliates of Alliance Resource Partners, LP on Friday for failing to make royalty payments to the widows and heirs of men who discovered a 200-million ton coal reserve 35 years ago in White County, Illinois.
Second Circuit Court Judge David K. Overstreet rendered the judgment finding that White County Coal had breached fiduciary duties by seizing royalty payments owed to the group as joint venturers for its own account. The judgment includes unpaid royalties on 6.4 million tons of coal mined at White County's Pattiki Mine near Carmi, Illinois, between 2002 and September 2009.
"We are gratified by Judge Overstreet's ruling, which validates the tremendous efforts and skills of the original partners, Bill Rector, Sam Stone, Jack Fowler and Col. Parks," said plaintiffs' attorney Scott C. Helmholz of the law firm Bailey & Glasser.
The judge's decision also requires Alliance to calculate and pay additional sums for royalties and interest due on coal mined from September 2009 to the present and also orders Alliance to reinstate the plaintiffs' royalty rights on some 6,000 remaining coal acres.
The plaintiffs include the widows of Rector and Stone, two veteran Carmi drilling rig operators, and the heirs and descendants of Indianapolis-based mining geologist Col. Oattis Parks, Sr.
"These hard-working entrepreneurs had the expertise and foresight to discover a vast coal reserve," continued Helmholz. "Their efforts created jobs for thousands of miners since 1977 and generated coal sales for Alliance and its predecessors exceeding $1.4 billion."
Bailey & Glasser's trial team consisted of Helmholz, attorneys Benjamin L. Bailey, and Jeffrey R. Baron with paralegal Diane Blakeman.
The judgment stemmed from a seven-day trial that concluded on November 22, 2009.
Bailey & Glasser
CONTACT: Scott Helmholz, +1-217-528-1177, for Bailey & Glasser
