Anschutz alleges it lost more than $27 million in lease negotiations due to the leak, which gave competitors insight into the production potential of Anschutz’s wells. The company also required its employees to keep well production data confidential, and at the time of the email, that information had not yet been reported to the state of Utah.
While Judge Wallace acknowledged that the evidence linking Morning Gun’s email to the lease negotiations was “scant,” she noted that a jury could still infer a connection. The judge also stressed that the issue of damages was for the jury to decide, as Anschutz may still be able to prove its losses.
Additionally, Judge Wallace dismissed Morning Gun’s argument that it had not benefited from the disclosure of the data, pointing to evidence that Morning Gun had raised the price of its Seep Ridge Project land from $150 an acre to $4,000 an acre after the Torrey Well began producing. If the production data was improperly obtained, Morning Gun could have used that information to increase the value of its property.
