BG Wins Summary Judgment in Complex Mining and Lease Dispute 

A Bailey Glasser litigation team shaved a multimillion-dollar claim to only $1.00 on behalf of our clients Blackhawk Land and Resources LLC and Rockwell Mining, LLC in federal court. 

The matter involved a lease first executed in 1937 and a dispute that arose in 2020 related to credit agreements pledging the 1937 Lease as collateral. Ultimately, after several years of intense litigation including two rounds of summary judgment briefing, the federal court found that Poca deserved only $1.00 in nominal damages.

Specifically, the Court held, among numerous findings, that monetary damages were not appropriate because Poca Land actually benefitted from the Merger at issue and that no legal damages were suffered because Plaintiffs filed documents with the appropriate clerks’ offices stating that the mortgages did not place an encumbrance on the 1937 Lease. In light of these holdings, the Court held that the only remedy available to Poca Land was nominal damages in the amount of $1.00.

The Bailey Glasser litigation team was led by founding partner Brian A. Glasser, and included partners Ben Schwartzman, Jennifer Fahey, Thanos Basdekis, Of Counsel The Hon. Thomas Bennett, and associate Laura Babiak.

The case is Rockwell Mining, LLC and Blackhawk Land and Resources, LLC v. Pocahontas Land LLC, United States District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia, CA 2:20-cv-00487.

To read the Court's Memorandum Opinion and Order, please visit this link.

To review the Court's Judgment Order, please visit this link.