Jury rules company stole Whitley man’s natural gas, awards $218,000 judgment

A Whitley County man -initially sued a decade ago by a Columbus, OH based natural gas company for shutting of gas wells on his Woodbine property – managed to turn the tables in Whitley Circuit Court last week.

After about two hours of deliberations, a jury awarded 47-year-old Simon Vanderpool and his ex-wife, Sandra Joan Nance, $217,890, in his long-standing dispute with K. Petroleum Inc. and its owner Jam Khorrami.

"He sued me, and I won," Vanderpool said following the verdict. "My stance in court was that the gas belongs to me. He was taking my gas and not paying for it … There’s a lot of money going out of Whitley County down the pipeline that people don’t realize. If this inspires one person to stand up to these people and get what is rightfully theirs, then I am satisfied."

The central dispute in the case dates back to 2002. Vanderpool bought a 300-acre tract of property in Woodbine from his father-in-law in Jan. 2002. The three gas wells were already there, installed years before by Signal Reserve Corporation, a company that no longer exists. K. Petroleum claimed ownership of the wells and agreed to pay Vanderpool Royalties.

But Vanderpool says he never received a dime.

So, in response, he shut down the wells.

K. Petroleum quickly went to court and got an injunction against Vanderpool and was allowed to keep the wells operating. It also barred Vanderpool from interfering with the wells.

In 2005, Vanderpool made a deal with another company, ADID Corporation, to operated the wells and pay royalties. ADID unhooked K. Petroleum’s pipeline and attached its own. In response, K. Petroleum added ADID as a defendant in the lawsuit and was asking for $350,000 in damages from both ADID and Vanderpool.

Vanderpool filed a counterclaim asking to be reimbursed for the gas K. Petroleum sold.

During trial, Vanderpool’s attorney, Darrell Saunders, who specializes in oil, gas and other mineral rights litigation, effectively argued that K. Petroleum had no lease on the wells and never had any legal right to be taking gas from the property.

"It was a no-brainer. K. Petroleum was basically a trespasser," Saunders said. "The issues in the case were pretty straightforward. My client was awarded 100 percent of the value of the gas."

The jury awarded no punitive damages in the case.

Khorrami maintained in court, to the very conclusion of the trial, that he had a lease for the wells, but was never able to produce any proof of the lease.

"He went in there and he lied in court," Vanderpool said. "He told the court that he had a lease. He did not have a lease. I knew it and that’s why I shut [the gas wells] off."

K. Petroleum has 10 days to pay the entire judgment, ask for a new trial or file an appeal.