Caddo Parish is currently in litigation with some of it's residents and stands to lose millions of dollars in mineral rights. The dispute is over who should receive payment from the royalties on natural gas beneath rights-of-way. Parish officials say the average rights-a-way is about sixty feet.
Caddo Parish Attorney Charles Grubb says when you factor in the number of miles associated with each roadway you're talking about a large number of acres they stand to lose future royalties on. He says that's why this litigation is so important to the parish and to the residents.
Right now the lawsuit is concentrated in the southern half of the parish where the principal gas activity is taking place.
"The issue is parish wide in fact the lawsuit has the potential to be precedential in a lot more than Caddo parish," said Grubb. The State District Court ruled in the parish's favor earlier this year. The case is now in the Second Circuit Court of Appeal, waiting on a ruling.