Judge Walkley to Determine Whether to Certify Class in Prague Earthquake Case

On May 16, 2018, Judge Lori Walkley of Cleveland County District Court will hear Plaintiff's motion for class certification in the first class action case filed in Oklahoma concerning man-made earthquakes.

In early-November of 2011, several large earthquakes hit near Prague, Oklahoma. The largest quake was 5.7-magnitude, and two others were over 5.0 in magnitude. Many homes, business, and a university suffered substantial damages from all of the seismicity.

Plaintiffs have alleged the earthquakes were caused by injecting fracking wastewater disposal deep into the earth and into the Arbuckle Formation. The injected wastes lubricated fault lines -- causing them to shift and resulting in the unnatural earthquakes.

If certified as a class-action, those that suffered earthquake damages from the Prague swarm to properties in Lincoln, Payne, Logan, Oklahoma, Cleveland, Pottawatomie, Seminole, Okfuskee, and Creek counties will be covered by the case set to be tried in September. If Plaintiffs are successful in showing through science that New Dominion's waste disposal operations nearby caused the Prague earthquakes, then those that have earthquake damages from these earthquakes will only need to show the damages to their homes and businesses in future mini-trials.

The public and those that have suffered from the Prague earthquakes are welcome to attend the hearing.

The hearing will be held on May 16th at 9:00 a.m., in the Cleveland County District Court, 200 S. Peters Ave., Norman, OK 73069. Judge Walkley's courtroom is on the 4th floor.