SLIPPERY ROCK — A Mercer County judge has denied a Butler County man's claim that he is owed thousands of dollars that was wrongfully withheld from a class-action lawsuit settlement against an oil and gas drilling company.

Mercer County Court Judge Daniel P. Wallace handed down a decision earlier this month denying John Paul Jordan's civil complaint against The Garden City Group.

Jordan, a Slippery Rock resident who represented himself in court, filed a civil complaint in June alleging that the group, which was in charge of distributing $5.95 million as part of a settlement with Halcon Energy Properties, had used a “grossly flawed” process to distribute the money among about 1,500 landowners who were part of the class-action lawsuit against Halcon.

That lawsuit was based on a 2012 land play by Halcon in which the company issued letters of intent to lease 60,000 acres in Mercer County and promised landowners $3,850 per acre and an 18.5-percent royalty. In September of that year the company walked away from about 1,500 leases — about half of the landowners who have been issued a letter of intent — without making good on the compensation they promised to landowners.

The spurned landowners sued in federal court, and Wallace approved a settlement in the matter last year, but sealed financial terms of the deal.

Last month, arguing before Wallace in court, Jordan said that the Garden City Group's oversight of the settlement — which Wallace approved last year — was “highly flawed and poorly handled,” and ultimately resulted in him receiving $1,438 in compensation when he should have received $6,478.

That error, Jordan said, was based on the group's incorrect assessment that he had signed another oil and gas lease with a different company. The group sent out mailings to members of the class-action lawsuit last year, Jordan said, asking landowners to verify whether they had signed a drilling lease. If they had, Jordan said, landowners were put in a group that received a smaller payout than those who had not signed new leases.

Jordan, however, says he never received the Garden City Group's mailing asking him to verify whether he had signed a new lease, and questioned whether or not GCG had done its due diligence with record checks to verify it was placing landowners in the correct category.

Wallace, in a seven page ruling dated Oct. 3, granted a motion by lawyers representing GCG and dismissed Jordan's lawsuit. He wrote that the state's rules of civil procedure only require that groups like GCG exercise “ordinary skill and knowledge,” in overseeing the distribution of settlement monies. Wallace also wrote that Jordan, in court, failed to make the case that the group had acted negligently or intentionally defrauded him.

“While it is unfortunate that some plaintiffs may have received less than they otherwise should have, (GCG) cannot be liable for those losses,” Wallace's opinion reads, in part.

Jordan, reacting to Wallace's ruling on Tuesday, said he was disappointed but did not plan to appeal the decision.

“The court should have the character to admit and rectify a mistake when it becomes apparent,” Jordan said.