Published
October 2, 2026
Owners in Oklahoma oil and gas wells who received late proceeds payments from Trinity Operating (USG), LLC dated June 1, 2022 through December 31, 2025, without statutory interest, will be paid automatically from a $16.5 million settlement based on Trinity's own records; there is no claim form to file. The final fairness hearing is set for October 8, 2026.
Current Status
There is nothing to file. Trinity Operating (USG), LLC has agreed to pay $16.5 million to resolve claims that it paid Oklahoma oil and gas proceeds late without the statutory interest required by Oklahoma's Production Revenue Standards Act, and class members will be paid from Trinity's records without submitting anything. The court granted preliminary approval on July 7, 2026, and the deadline to opt out or object passed at 5:00 p.m. Central Time on September 17, 2026. The final fairness hearing is scheduled for 10:00 a.m. Central Time on October 8, 2026 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma. No final approval order has been entered and no payment date had been announced as of October 2, 2026.Free settlement alerts
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Status
Pending — Automatic Payment
Preliminarily approved July 7, 2026 · final fairness hearing October 8, 2026 · no final approval order entered
Key Deadline
Passed — September 17, 2026
Opt-out and objection deadline · there is no claim deadline, because there is no claim form
Estimated Payout
Pro rata share of $16.5M
Proportional to the statutory interest calculated on each owner's late payments · estimated distributions of $5.00 or less are not paid
Proof Required
Automatic Payment
No claim form and no notice ID — the administrator issues distribution checks from Trinity's payment records
What Changed Recently?
This is a new settlement in a case filed in the Eastern District of Oklahoma in 2025. The parties mediated on February 26, 2026, signed a Stipulation and Agreement of Settlement on May 27, 2026, and the court granted preliminary approval on July 7, 2026. Notices went out by first-class mail on August 6, 2026 to 13,361 potential class members, and a summary notice ran in two local newspapers on August 11.The motion for final approval, filed after the mailing, reported that the administrator had received two requests for exclusion and no objections as of September 8, 2026. Class Counsel's fee application, filed the same week, asks for $6.6 million in attorneys' fees, which is 40% of the cash fund.
Trinity denies all allegations of wrongdoing and liability. It agreed to settle to avoid the uncertainty, burden and expense of continued litigation, and the court has made no ruling on the merits of the claims.
Who Qualifies?
The settlement class covers persons and entities that received late payments under the PRSA from Trinity, or from Trinity's designee, for oil and gas proceeds from Oklahoma wells, where the payment did not include the statutory interest the PRSA requires. Owners whose proceeds from Oklahoma wells Trinity sent to a government entity as unclaimed property are included on the same terms. The claim period covers checks or payments by Trinity dated June 1, 2022 through December 31, 2025.Several groups are excluded: Trinity and its affiliates, predecessors, employees, officers and directors; agencies of the United States and the State of Oklahoma; Indian tribes and Indian allottees as defined by federal law; publicly traded oil and gas companies; persons Class Counsel may be barred from representing under the Oklahoma conflict-of-interest rule; and a list of specific royalty companies, trusts and individuals named in the settlement agreement, several of whom have their own lawsuits against Trinity.
Class membership turns on the well, not on where the owner lives. An owner anywhere in the country who was paid on Oklahoma production during the claim period can be in the class. A missed notice does not remove anyone; the class list comes from Trinity's payment records.
How Much Can You Get?
Payments are pro rata. The Initial Plan of Allocation, prepared by the plaintiff's accounting expert, divides the net fund among class members in proportion to the statutory interest owed on each owner's late payments, with interest calculated through February 28, 2026. An exhibit to that plan lists an estimated distribution for each class member by owner number. Any owner whose calculated distribution is $5.00 or less is marked de minimis and will not be paid, subject to the court's approval.The net fund is what is left after court-approved deductions. The fee motion asks for $6.6 million in attorneys' fees, $100,419.16 in litigation expenses, up to $250,000 in administration, notice and distribution costs, a $288,750 case contribution award for the class representative, and a $35,000 reserve for future expenses. If the court grants all of it, about $9.2 million remains for distribution. Spread evenly across the 13,361 mailed notices, that would be roughly $690 each, but because payments track the interest owed on each owner's own late checks, individual amounts will range far above and below that figure. That average is an OpenClassActions estimate from the filed requests, not an official number, and the court may award less.
Trinity has also agreed to non-cash terms the agreement calls Future Benefits: it will use commercially reasonable efforts to review its procedures so they are reasonably calculated to pay PRSA statutory interest where appropriate, and keep them in place unless the law changes. Trinity keeps sole discretion over how and when that review happens. The fee motion values those terms at $6.4 million or more; that figure is the plaintiff's estimate and is not cash paid to the class.
Is There a Claim Form or Notice ID?
Neither. The notice states that class members do not have to do anything to receive the benefits of the settlement. There is no claim form, no portal and no administrator-issued ID to enter. If the court approves the settlement and it becomes final, the administrator mails distribution checks using Trinity's records, updated with any addresses it locates.The practical step for an owner is making sure the administrator can reach them. An owner who has moved, or whose interest has passed to an heir or new entity, can update contact details through the contact page on the official settlement website.
What Are the Deadlines?
The only deadline in this settlement has passed. Requests for exclusion and objections both had to be received by 5:00 p.m. Central Time on September 17, 2026, twenty-one days before the fairness hearing. Exclusion requests had to be notarized and sent by certified mail; the notice did not allow opting out online, by phone or by email.An owner who did not opt out is in the class and bound by the release if the settlement is approved. The release covers PRSA statutory interest claims on the late payments. It does not cover claims for the principal amount of proceeds or statutory interest claims based on lease or pooling-order covenants, which are expressly carved out.
What Do You Need to Do?
Nothing, if you want the payment. The settlement agreement, the long-form notice, the complaint, the preliminary approval order, the Initial Plan of Allocation and the fee and final approval motions are posted on the official Patton v. Trinity settlement website, which is also where any change to the hearing date will appear.What Happens Next?
Magistrate Judge Jason A. Robertson will hold the final fairness hearing at 10:00 a.m. Central Time on October 8, 2026 at the federal courthouse in Muskogee. The court will decide whether the settlement is fair, reasonable and adequate, rule on the allocation methodology, and decide the requests for fees, expenses and the case contribution award. The notice warns that the hearing date may change without further notice.Money does not move at final approval. Payment waits for the Effective Date, which requires any appeal to be exhausted. Within sixty days after the Effective Date, the plaintiff is to ask the court for a distribution order, and the administrator then mails checks. The notice cautions that the appeal period alone can take a year or more if anyone appeals. No payment date has been announced.
Devon Energy settled a separate, larger Oklahoma royalty case in the same court this year; the Devon Energy $52.5 million gas royalty settlement received final approval on September 21, 2026 and also pays automatically.
Sources and Verification
This page was written from the court-approved notice, the settlement agreement, the preliminary approval order and the motions for final approval and fees, all posted on the official settlement website. The notice is embedded in full below.- Notice of Proposed Settlement, Motion for Attorneys' Fees and Costs, Case Contribution Award, and Fairness Hearing, Patton v. Trinity Operating (USG), LLC, No. 6:25-cv-027-RAW-JAR (E.D. Okla.) — embedded below
- Stipulation and Agreement of Settlement executed May 27, 2026, including the class definition, the Future Benefits in paragraph 2.5 and the release carve-outs
- Preliminary Approval Order entered July 7, 2026, and the plaintiff's motions for final approval and for attorneys' fees, expenses and the case contribution award
- Official Patton v. Trinity settlement website — FAQs, key dates and court documents
Questions
Does an owner have to live in Oklahoma to be in the class?
No. The class is defined by the wells, not by where the owner lives. Anyone Trinity paid late on proceeds from an Oklahoma well during the claim period, without the statutory interest, is in the class unless they fall into an excluded group or opted out.
What if the proceeds were turned over to the state as unclaimed property?
Those owners are included. The class definition expressly covers owners whose Oklahoma well proceeds Trinity sent to a government entity as unclaimed property, as long as the statutory interest was not included.
Does the settlement pay the underlying royalty or only the interest?
Only the interest claim. The case is about statutory interest on payments made outside the PRSA's time limits. Claims for the principal amount of proceeds are carved out of the release, as are statutory interest claims based on something other than the PRSA, such as lease or pooling-order covenants.
Will Trinity change how it pays interest going forward?
The agreement includes what it calls Future Benefits: Trinity agrees to use commercially reasonable efforts to review its procedures so they are reasonably calculated to pay PRSA statutory interest where appropriate, and to keep such procedures in place unless the law changes. Trinity keeps sole discretion over the form and timing of that review.
Can an owner still opt out?
No. Requests for exclusion had to be received by 5:00 p.m. Central Time on September 17, 2026. The administrator reported two exclusion requests and no objections as of September 8, 2026.
Official Settlement Notice
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Settlement Amount
$16,500,000
Case Title
Patton v. Trinity Operating (USG), LLC
Case Number
6:25-cv-00027-RAW-JAR
Court
U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Oklahoma
Final Approval Hearing
October 8, 2026 at 10:00 AM CT
Before Magistrate Judge Jason A. Robertson · Muskogee · date may change without further notice
Administrator
JND Legal Administration
Official Website
Patton Trinity Settlement
