Chesapeake, Total settle Barnett Shale royalty disputes for $52.5M

• Chesapeake Energy (CHK -0.4%) and Total (TOT -0.6%) agree to pay $52.5M to 13K people who claimed their royalties were underpaid for leases in the Barnett Shale.
• As part of the agreement, CHK will provide $29.4M upon court approval of the settlement and another $10M in three years, while TOT will pay $13.1M in cash when the deal is finalized.
• TOT agreed two months ago to pay $6M to settle a similar royalty lawsuit brought by the city of Fort Worth, which also sued CHK, and lawyers involved in the litigation say they expect CHK to settle its part of that litigation soon.
• Now read Chesapeake's recent slide is unwarranted