Court Jurisdiction, Procedure and Review: Class Action

摘要

In May 2001, Dobbins files a class action petition in Oklahoma state court against ExxonMobil and Mobil Exploration & Producing, North America. The class definition includes owners of a "royalty interest" in the oil and gas underlying certain Oklahoma land on which ExxonMobil Oil Corporation operates oil and gas wells. The putative class seeks damages for breach of contract, breach of the unitization plan, conversion, fraud, breach of fiduciary duties, and for a violation of the Oklahoma Production Revenue Standards Act The putative class also seeks equitable relief in the form of an accounting and a constructive trust. More than three years later, in October 2004, Mannering and two other individuals, all of whom are apparently included in the proposed class definition outlined in the state action, file a similar, though not identical, class action in federal district court against the same two defendants. That putative class also includes royalty interest owners of oil and gas in the same Oklahoma land, but the class is denned more broadly than the putative class in state court.