Opinion
Civil Action No. 12-369
06-11-2012
RUGH A. MASON and SHERRY L. MASON, husband and wife, Plaintiffs, v. RANGE RESOURCES-APPALACHIA, LLC and NISOURCE ENERGY VENTURES, LLC, Defendants.
ORDER
AND NOW, this 11th day of June, 2012, after the Plaintiffs, Rugh A. Mason and his wife, Sherry L. Mason ("Plaintiffs"), filed an action in the above-captioned case, and after a motion to dismiss and to strike was submitted by Defendant Range Resources-Appalachia, LLC ("Range Resources"), and after a Report and Recommendation was filed by the United States Magistrate Judge granting the parties a period of time after being served with a copy to file written objections thereto, and upon consideration of the objections filed by Range Resources and the response to those objections filed by the Plaintiffs, and upon independent review of the motion and the record, and upon consideration of the magistrate judge's Report and Recommendation (ECF No. 18), which is adopted as the opinion of this court, this court too predicts, along with fellow members of this Bench, that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court will find a cause of action lies for tortious interference with an at-will employee's employment relationship.
Accordingly, IT IS ORDERED that the motion to dismiss Count I and to strike Plaintiffs' claims for attorney's fees filed by Defendant Range Resources-Appalachia, LLC (ECF No. 5) is granted with respect to the request to strike the request for attorney's fees and denied in all other respects.
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Joy Flowers Conti
United States District Judge