Yokel v. Hite

PRESIDING JUSTICE CHAPMAN

delivered the opinion of the court:

The plaintiffs, Robert, Mary, and Frank Yokel, appeal an order striking, with prejudice, three counts of their complaint which aüeged that the defendant Thomas M. Hite, who was the operator under an agreement unitizing several neighboring oil and gas leases, had breached fiduciary duties he owed to the plaintiffs. The trial court found that the counts failed to aQege facts from which it could find that Hite owed the plaintiffs a fiduciary duty. We affirm the trial court’s ruling.

I. BACKGROUND

The instant dispute involves an oil and…