Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 6, 1992 TAG: 9203060300
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B3 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WISE LENGTH: Medium
"There's no question we're appealing," Joseph W. Kaestner, an attorney for the descendants, said Wednesday after Wise County Circuit Judge Donald Mullins informed attorneys of his decision.
Mullins ruled against the descendants of Galen Roberts in a case that has produced generations of legal maneuverings.
The heirs sought the 10-cent-per-ton royalty payments based on an 1874 lease to land speculators that Roberts signed with an X.
Roberts' original holdings of about 1,000 acres on the Virginia-Kentucky line turned out to be some of the richest coal lands in the world.
It was not until the mid-1940s that coal was mined on the property, decades after Roberts' death.
The 99-year lease, according to Kaestner's argument, obligated some of the state's largest coal-holding companies to millions of dollars in payments that were never made.
As much as 30,000 tons of coal a month has been taken from the property on a continuous basis.
"It was a novel legal argument in Virginia that has never been heard before," said Kaestner, the latest in a long line of lawyers to take on the case.
Kaestner concluded that the lease was in fact a deed, whose language remained in effect as Roberts sold off portions of the tract.
"I have the greatest respect for Galen Roberts' ability to make money by leasing land and then selling it," said Henry Keuling-Stout, who has represented principal defendant Penn-Virginia Resources Corp. since 1975.
He suggested that Roberts' use of the "X" belied his savvy in the land-dealing escapade.
Descendants of Roberts' 11 children first filed court documents in the late 1940s. But decades passed without a trial as coal company attorneys challenged the standing of various heirs, the location of the property and the application of the statute of limitations.
When the case finally came to trial last month, more than 150 of the 400 remaining heirs, some from as far away as California, descended on the Wise County Courthouse for the long-awaited hearing.
Anna Hayes, Roberts' 92-year-old granddaughter from Oklahoma, said Wednesday that as far as the family was concerned, the case was not over.
"Shucks, no," she said. "We're not giving up."
Memo: shorter version ran in the Metro edition.