Trust Lands Board Honors Vernal Lawyer
08-Sep-1997
The Board of Trustees of the Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration will honor Vernal lawyer Gayle McKeachnie at its September 10 meeting in Price, Utah. Mr. McKeachnie served as outside legal counsel for the Trust Lands Administration and predecessor agencies in collecting approximately $20 million in delinquent coal royalties from companies mining coal on state trust lands in central Utah. Mr. McKeachnie was selected as outside counsel for the former Division of State Lands and Forestry in 1985, shortly after that agency determined that a number of coal companies had significantly underpaid coal royalties in the late 1970's and early 1980's. Although some of the audits were settled, other companies filed lawsuits to prevent the State from collecting the delinquent royalties. Mr. McKeachnie successfully defended the State in three separate appeals before the Utah Supreme Court, as well as a 1996 appeal by one of the companies to the United States Supreme Court. The last of these cases was concluded in June, 1997 with the final payment of approximately $8 million to the State's permanent school fund by Trail Mountain Coal Company. Trust Lands Administration director David Terry said: "We are pleased to have the chance to thank Gayle for the fine legal work that he has provided to us over the years. These were hotly contested cases, and he won every one. The $20 million collected in the coal audits represents a significant portion of the State's permanent school fund, which currently contains approximately $150 million." Income from the permanent school fund is distributed annually for the financial support of Utah's public schools. The Trust Lands Administration's Board of Trustees will honor McKeachnie on Wednesday morning, September 10 at its monthly meeting, which is being held this month at the Holiday Inn in Price, Utah.