Texas Energy Firm Files Breach of Contract Lawsuit Alleging Misrepresentation of Real Estate Ownership

Austin, TX (Law Firm Newswire) January 8, 2016 – A breach of contract lawsuit has been filed by a Texas energy company, alleging that two defendants misrepresented the ownership of real estate.

The lawsuit was filed Oct. 26 by Cogent Energy Solutions in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, Houston Division. The defendants are Granite Peak Development LB and CLH LLC. The suit claims that Cogent, which develops assets to store and transport crude oil, relied on defendants’ claims that they owned property in Wyoming, and borrowed millions of dollars in order to build an oil rail facility on that property. However, after the facility was built, Cogent discovered that the defendants did not own the property.

“Title issues are of primary importance in the oil business and in any business involving real estate,” said Gregory D. Jordan, an Austin business litigation attorney and oil and gas attorney with the Law Offices of Gregory D. Jordan. “Ideally, title issues should be carefully vetted before construction or drilling ever occurs on a piece of land,” said Jordan. “A party that fails to cure title issues before commencing operations on a piece of property may run significant risks.”

The lawsuit states that Cogent is a member in and Lead Manager of Cheyenne Rail Hub (CheyHub), an entity formed to acquire property in Wyoming for a crude oil rail transloading facility to be built. According to the lawsuit, defendant CLH is a former member of CheyHub and Granite Peak is the assignee of CLH’s membership interest in CheyHub. The lawsuit states that the property was to be acquired from CLH, which would lease the property to CheyHub for two years and then sell it to CheyHub. In the complaint, CheyHub claims that it caused a multimillion dollar facility to be built on the property, and then learned that neither CLH nor Granite Peak owned the property.

The lawsuit alleges breach of contract and seeks actual damages, expenses, attorney’s fees and costs and all other appropriate remedies.