Eighty-nine New York landowners who once agreed to let Norse Energy Corp. USA drill for natural gas on their property have filed a lawsuit against the struggling company, arguing that its executives have unfairly extended the life of their lease agreements using a legal clause meant for natural disasters and terrorist attacks, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported today. The landowner group said that Norse Energy USA should not be allowed to use what is called force majeure to extend the life of the leases they signed before former New York Gov. David Paterson banned high-volume hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, while state regulators come up with new permitting rules for the drilling process.
