Dear GRNA members.
 
Many of you have emailed and asked for a current status regarding potential legal action against Holland/XTO.  We would like to apologize for the amount of time it has taken to gather information, decide on a course of action, and share our findings with you.  The GRNA Committee is made of unpaid volunteers, most of whom have busy schedules, especially during the holidays.  We would have liked to publish something before now, but we hope you realize that this may be a lengthy process and continue to be patient as we seek to help you enforce your rights and get a fair deal. 
 
As you may know, several weeks ago, we sent a communication to the GRNA membership asking for members who were attorneys to contact us if they were willing to meet and discuss the various issues that our alliance is currently facing with regard to the actions of Holland/XTO over the past several months.   While we received several helpful responses, one attorney, Brandt Johnson, with the law firm of Carnahan, Thomas in Southlake, not only responded, but held an optimistic view of our position based on certain points of law and was willing to meet with our committee and spend time reviewing the entire situation and presenting some potential options for our members who would like to attempt to resolve their potential claims against Holland/XTO.   Mr. Johnson believes that for those GRNA members with signed leases, there is merit in meeting and further discussing potential legal options at this time, while those of us without signed leases are probably best served by patience while the issue of the signed leases is resolved.  A single action taken by GRNA as a group is not advisable at this time, for reasons we will not discuss here.
 
While we cannot specifically recommend any one law firm over another, we wanted to let you know that based on information we have seen regarding the fee structures that some law firms have proposed to individual members of our alliance, it appears that Mr. Johnson, as a member of GRNA, is willing to offer a very favorable attorney fee arrangement to our members who have signed leases.  None of us, including any attorney, can predict with certainty how these claims may be resolved, and therefore we cannot guarantee that if you proceed with a claim that you will obtain a recovery, but we wanted to pass along Mr. Johnson’s information so that you can contact him if you wish to discuss this matter further.  After our recent meetings with Mr. Johnson, several of our committee members with signed leases have decided to pursue our claims against Holland/XTO with the assistance of Mr. Johnson and Carnahan, Thomas.  The committee members without signed leases support this action and feel it is our best interests to wait for a resolution of the signed leases before deciding what our next step should be.
 
Obviously, anyone who wishes to explore their legal options can and should do so with the attorney of their choosing; however, we felt it was worthwhile to let you know that one of our own members is available to discuss the legal options with you, and has agreed to provide an attorney fee arrangement to GRNA members with signed leases which is favorable to others we have seen thus far. If you would like to meet with Mr. Johnson, he will provide a no-cost consultation to you so that you can make an informed decision regarding your legal options. He will ask that you set up an appointment so that he can meet with you and discuss your specific situation, as well as review copies of the pertinent lease documentation and correspondence that has been sent to you from Holland and/or XTO.  The contact information is as follows:
 
      Brandt R. Johnson
      CARNAHAN THOMAS, LLP
      1190 N. Carroll Avenue
      Southlake, Texas 76092

      (817)424-1001 Main number for the firm
      (817)552-2806 Direct Dial 

      (817)521-3663 Mobile
      (817)424-1003 Facsimile
 
Sincerely,
GRNA Committee