Siblings sue over gas rights in Jefferson Hills land parcel

A Belle Vernon man and his sister are suing a couple who bought 50 acres from them in 2001, claiming that the new owners later altered the deed to swindle them out of their rights to the oil and gas reserves beneath the property in Allegheny County.

Evan Ford and his sister Margaret Ford received a vacant parcel of land in Jefferson Hills from their mother in 1996, which they sold to John and Cynthia Oliver in 2001 for $22,000, according to the lawsuit filed Wednesday in Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas. But they did not sell the couple their rights to any oil or gas on the property.

So when Evan Ford recently reached out to follow up with EQT Corp., a drilling company he had spoken with about the reserves on that parcel of land, he was surprised to learn that the company was drilling there, he said. He was even more surprised to find that in this spring alone, the company had paid the Olivers close to $2 million.

Ford did some digging with his lawyer, he said, and alleges that the deed of sale from 2001 was altered in 2009 — “mistakenly or intentionally” — to show that the Olivers possess the oil and gas rights to any property the Fords own in Allegheny County.

“It's bizarre,” Ford said. “A couple of words and they had everything.”

The Olivers could not be reached.

The Fords are suing the Olivers, their lawyer, Blane Puskaric, and his firm for fraudulently transferring the oil and gas rights into the Olivers' names, the lawsuit states. The EQT Corp. and Landco, the closing company that participated in the original sale of the land, and several other parties are listed in the suit.

Puskaric could not be reached for comment Thursday.

According to the lawsuit, the Fords do not have a copy of the sale agreement because they were not given one. ReMax, which was hired to facilitate the sale of the vacant lot, has purged its records from 2001.

But Ford said they did not intend to sell the oil and gas rights, and when they were given the land by their mother, the deed clearly listed those rights as a separate parcel.

The suit also states that John Oliver offered to pay the Fords for the oil and gas rights to the property this year, but the Fords refused.

The brother and sister are requesting that the Olivers' deed to the property be voided, that the oil and gas rights be returned to them, and that they receive damages and compensation for any “depletion” of the property interests.

Elizabeth Behrman is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. She can be reached at 412-320-7886 or lbehrman@tribweb.com.