By: Jack Money – The Oklahoman – An oil and gas company claims in a lawsuit filed last week that a representative of oil giant Continental Resources accessed, reviewed, and photographed confidential information belonging to the company in an action “reminiscent of the Watergate Scandal.”
The suit’s allegation is the latest development in a tangled legal dispute between Oklahoma City attorney Blaine Dyer, an ex-employee of his firm named Matt Golladay, Continental Resources, and now Perpetual Production LLC.
Perpetual, a company that acquires minerals, royalties, non-operated working interests, and leasehold in targeted basins across the United States, filed the latest lawsuit in Oklahoma County District Court.
Lawsuit against Continental Resources detailed
The suit claims a Continental Resources representative gained access to its offices — leased space inside a for-sale building owned by Dyer’s law firm — by fraudulently posing as a potential out-of-state buyer.
Once inside the building, the lawsuit claims a Continental representative accessed and photographed confidential records belonging to Perpetual.
Its lawsuit describes what happened as being reminiscent of Watergate, adding, “this was not an overly eager mid-level employee at Continental trying to showcase his or her skills and loyalty; rather, this illegal theft operation to gather information on Blaine Dyer involves a full-blown conspiracy and collusion between upper-echelon executives of Continental, the personal financial adviser of oil tycoon Harold Hamm, as well as a prominent Oklahoma City Realtor.
“Perpetual was merely an innocent bystander caught in Continental’s crusade against Mr. Dyer,” the suit’s petition states.
The lawsuit, which also targets a third-party real estate agent who gave the Continental Resources representative access to the building, was filed on May 26.
Before that, though, Dyer’s attorney Joe White sent a letter complaining about Continental Resources’ conduct to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Oklahoma in Oklahoma City.
Continental Resources, through attorney Nicholas Merkley at Gable Gotwals, wrote White in response to let him know the building indeed had been toured by a representative of the oil and gas company.
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