Mealey's (June 4, 2021, 11:53 AM EDT) -- SHREVEPORT, La. — A federal judge in Louisiana on May 12 denied claims brought by landowners against a bank with which they had contracted to manage their oil interests in a shale formation, concluding that an exculpatory clause in the contracts applied and the bank employee who was in charge of negotiating leases with hydraulic fracturing companies did not commit gross negligence when he mistakenly failed to limit the deep shale rights associated with the properties....