Louisiana Supreme Court Grants Writ Application in Phillips Litigation
DALLAS, May 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Remington Oil and Gas Corporation (Nasdaq: ROIL; PCX: REM.P) announced today that the Louisiana Supreme Court granted Phillips Petroleum's Application for Writ of Certiorari in the long-standing litigation between the two companies. The court has requested Phillips file a brief by May 22, 2001 and Remington will have until June 11, 2001 to file its response. Either party can request extensions to this schedule. The court has not set a timeframe for oral arguments or determined if they will even be granted. This process will take several months to resolve.
Phillips, unsatisfied with over $100 million that they have received to date from Remington plus the $20 million award from two lower courts, appealed to the Louisiana Supreme Court. Phillips is asking the Louisiana Supreme Court to disregard the contract they wrote, ignore the findings of fact and the rulings of two lower courts, and to consider this case, involving a contract dispute over a federal offshore lease, under the Louisiana State Mineral Code rather than federal law.
The Minerals Management Service (MMS), a branch of the federal government responsible for offshore leases, made almost the same demands on Remington as Phillips made in this litigation. After a review of the facts, the MMS reached essentially the same conclusions as the trial court and the appellate court. The MMS settled with Remington on a proportional basis for significantly less than the $20 million that the two lower courts awarded Phillips.
The details of Phillips' demands and the specific conclusions of the trial court, the appellate court and the MMS are covered in numerous prior press releases and in our 10-K and 10-Q filings with the SEC.
James A. Watt, President and Chief Executive Officer of the company stated "In spite of this deep-pocketed and predatory litigation campaign of Phillips, we have delivered a 35% compound growth rate of reserves since 1997 with some of the best finding and development costs in the gulf coast. As this litigation moves through the courts we will continue to focus on growing shareholder value through the drillbit." |
