Natural Gas Pipeline Company’s Claims Survive Motion to Dismiss

West Virginia property owner RDFS LLC lost its bid for dismissal of claims for declaratory judgment and injunctive relief brought by a pipeline company seeking access to its property.

Columbia Gas Transmission LLC, which owns an interstate natural gas pipeline running through Pennsylvania and West Virginia, alleged it had to conduct pipeline subsidence mitigation efforts after the coal company American Consolidated Natural Resources told Columbia that the West Virginia land the pipeline runs through would be affected by an upcoming longwall mining panel.

Columbia claimed that RDFS LLC, which acquired the property subject to Columbia’s easement, refused the pipeline ...