Goodall prevails over coal company
Superior Court decided a dispute over coal washing and an escrow account that goes back several years, affirming a verdict in favor of the owner of mineral rights in Robinson Township, in part because Robinson Coal Co. belatedly raised the claim that the coal-washing operation was illegal.
Robert B. Goodall of Bulger again prevailed over Robinson Coal Co. of Neville Island, which took him to court in 2009.
The coal company entered into a contract to remove coal from property owned by Michaele F. Parees and Robert M. Frame at 724 Midway-Candor Road for which Goodall owned mineral rights. It acquired the right to mine Goodall’s coal, and any coal removed from the Frame property that was not saleable without first being washed was to be delivered to Goodall’s washing plant and cleaned for a fee of $9 per ton, according to a 1999 agreement.
Robinson also had to give Goodall a production royalty of $1.50 per ton of coal mined, and as a security for Robinson’s performance of its contractual obligations, it agreed to deposit with Goodall 50 cents per ton to be held by Goodall in a separate interest-bearing account until Robinson completed mining operations on the Frame property, known as the “Roman” site. At that point, when Robinson had paid its obligations to Goodall, it was to split the money in the account with Goodall, according to the Superior Court opinion filed last week by Judge Mary Jane Bowes.
Robinson began mining operations in January 2000 and completed them in August 2002, stating in its lawsuit that it left 192,000 tons of coal at Goodall’s washing facility. It filed suit over two issues including the return of any coal remaining on Goodall’s land, or if the coal had been sold, its fair market value. The coal company also claimed Goodall had breached the contract over the division of money in the escrow account.
Goodall, in separate suit, asserted Robinson forfeited its right to the escrowed money because the company did not mine the Frame property to exhaustion and because it refused to accept the return of the washed coal that was left at Goodall’s coal washing plant. In a counterclaim, Goodall alleged that Robinson breached the contract by refusing to accept the stockpiled coal and failing to deposit the 50 cents-per-ton fee. In a trial, the jury concluded that neither side breached the contract and declined to award damages to either Goodall or Robinson Coal Co. The trial court concluded that Robinson was entitled to half the amount of money in escrow, $118,366 plus interest. Both parties filed appeals and Goodall maintained that Robinson was not entitled to the escrow money. Superior Court in 2008 reinstated the jury’s verdict and the state Supreme Court did not hear an appeal.
The case then went to nonjury trial, in which the judge found both causes of action were barred by the statute of limitations.
“Since the coal in question is legally considered personal property, the trial court correctly applied the two-year statute of limitations,” Bowes wrote in a nine-page opinion, because Robinson ceased mining in 2002 and therefore had to seek a legal remedy by 2004.
Robinson also claimed that Goodall’s coal-washing operation was “illegal,” preventing him from raising any defense to the breach-of-contract dispute. Robinson waived this illegality defense by failing to raise it in previous litigation, Bowes wrote in affirming the judgment.
Hearing the case along with Bowes were Judge Anne E. Lazarus and Senior Judge Robert E. Colville.
Goodall has been active in local politics, last running a failed write-in campaign for Robinson Township supervisor in 2005.
Property owned by Michelle Parees and Frame off Midway-Candor Road is also the subject of litigation between Robinson Township and Range Resources, which wants to drill in the Marcellus Shale for natural gas. The township denied Range’s request, and this matter, the subject of hearing in Washington County Court in late Aprl, has not been resolved.