Wood Group Mustang Inc. v. Freeport LNG Expansion L.P.

Litigation counsel for plaintiff, a worldwide engineering contractor, in a dispute with Freeport LNG, the owner of a liquefied natural gas facility. Wood Group filed suit to collect on approximately $4 million in unpaid bills. Freeport LNG counterclaimed asserting approximately $18 million in damages related to horizontal directional drilling work. Wood Group filed a motion for summary judgment at the case’s outset concerning nearly all of Freeport LNG’s alleged counterclaim damages. The Court granted Wood Group’s motion. During the course of the remaining litigation, Freeport LNG paid 100% of Wood Group’s outstanding bills. The remainder of the case later settled as part of a confidential settlement agreement.

Wood Group Mustang Inc.

Successfully defended a claim for $43 million in damages arising out of alleged construction defects in a pipeline project. Plaintiff Enterprise Products Operating LLC experienced severe damage on recently constructed pipelines and claimed that Mustang and another co-defendant who constructed the pipelines were responsible. After a series of hearings in which the Court struck over eleven of Enterprise’s experts, and after the firm filed a spoliation motion seeking dismissal of all claims, the case settled for a confidential amount.

Riverstone Holdings

Represented Riverstone and certain of its portfolio companies in defense of a lawsuit arising out of a gas purchase agreement.  Plaintiff Southwest Energy asserted claims for breach of contract, tortious interference, defamation, business disparagement, and misappropriation of trade secrets relating to the gas supply contract. The case settled while summary judgment motions were pending.

Dynamic Industries, Inc.

Represented Dynamic Industries, a portfolio company of the private equity firm Riverstone Holdings, LLC, against Dynamic’s former owner and chief executive officer and several of his affiliated entities.  The firm developed and implemented a strategy that involved litigating claims in Louisiana state court, New York state court, and arbitration.  After several hearings in the various proceedings, the matter was resolved through settlement.

Ashby High Rise

Won a four-week jury trial involving the controversial Ashby High Rise Project. As Co-lead Trial Counsel for the Plaintiffs, successfully obtained a unanimous jury verdict that the proposed high-rise project constitutes a nuisance-in-fact. (Penelope Loughhead, et al. v. 1717 Bissonnet, LLC, Cause No. 2013-26155)

Great Bear Petroleum Operating LLC

Represented Great Bear, a portfolio company of private equity firm Riverstone Holdings, LLC, in connection with a dispute regarding an eight-figure seismic acquisition program in Alaska. The contract at issue required the parties to mediate up-front, and then proceed to arbitration if necessary. The firm aggressively investigated the facts and thoroughly prepared Great Bear’s positions on the merits for the mediation, which facilitated a successful settlement at mediation and allowed Great Bear to avoid the time and expense of a full arbitration proceeding.

Lone Star Fund V (U.S.), LP., et al

Represented Lone Star, a number of its affiliated entities, and individual officers and directors, in defense of a lawsuit brought by a bankruptcy liquidating trustee seeking to recover damages in excess of $300 million.  The trustee filed this lawsuit against our clients challenging a series of corporate transactions and decisions undertaken by our clients, and asserted claims for breaches of fiduciary duty, fraudulent transfers, avoidable preferences, and illegal dividends against.  The case settled favorably while summary judgment motions were pending.

ExxonMobil Corporation

Hired as trial counsel after the close of discovery and only three months before the jury trial, and won a complete victory at trial in defense of ExxonMobil Corporation. Plaintiff Duke Energy Services (now DCP Midstream) had alleged that certain accounting errors and re-allocations by ExxonMobil as an operator in the Conroe Field Unit had caused more than $4 million dollars of overpayments to other working interest owners. (Duke Energy Field Services, LP v. ExxonMobil Corporation)

J.V. Industrial Companies, Ltd

Represented JVIC in a construction dispute in which JVIC recovered $14.7 million and avoided claims against it totaling approximately $30 million. JVIC was the contractor on a construction project to repower and expand the Victoria Power Station in Victoria, Texas, and various disputes arose between JVIC and the owner. The case settled favorably before final arbitration hearing with JVIC obtaining the significant recovery and paying nothing on the claims asserted against it.

Willis Group, LLC and Seis-Strat Services, L.L.C.

Obtained arbitration award for full damages claim plus attorney’s fees for Willis Group in a dispute arising out of its acquisition of a business from Antares Enterprises, L.P.  Antares originally sued Willis Group in Texas state court, asserting claims of shareholder oppression and breaches of fiduciary duty, and seeking appointment of a receiver and more than $1 million of damages. We successfully compelled the case to arbitration, asserted claims against Antares for fraud and breach of contract, and obtained arbitration with a value of approximately $1.4 million, including recovery of attorneys’ fees. Antares was awarded nothing on the claims it originally initiated as the state court plaintiff.

NetIQ Corporation

Hired eighteen months into case – and six months before final hearing – to defend NetIQ against patent infringement claims asserted by BMC Software seeking $150 million in lost profits and royalties before trebling. Within six months, the parties conducted almost all of the fact discovery and produced all expert reports and discovery relating to the validity of the patents, the claimed infringement, and damages. The case was resolved on very satisfactory terms one week before the arbitration hearing.

Union Oil Company of California

Won summary judgment dismissing claims brought against Unocal seeking to recover hundreds of millions of dollars. Working interest owners in certain Gulf of Mexico wells drilled and operated by Unocal asserted various claims against Unocal relating to the drilling and operations of those wells. The case settled favorably shortly after the summary judgment order was entered.

Corenergy, LLC et al

On the eve of trial, settled case favorably for Corenergy, a co-owner of an oil & gas prospect, against the operator of the project. Corenergy asserted claims for fraud and breach of contract against the co-owner and operator of the prospect connection with the handling of that prospect.

In re Dynegy, Inc. Securities Litigation

Represented three corporate officers of Dynegy Corporation in defense of a securities fraud class action lawsuit asserted against the company and a number of its officers and directors. Obtained dismissal of all three officer defendants from the case. Plaintiff voluntarily dismissed one of the officer defendants after we filed a motion to dismiss the claims asserted against him. The Court granted our motion to dismiss the claims against the other two officer defendants.

Amerisource Funding, Inc.

Obtained $1 million settlement for Amerisource on claims alleging that Trammell Crow knowingly circumvented security interests of our client.

Cerberus Capital Management

Obtained dismissal of claims asserted against Cerberus in connection with Cerberus’ offer to participate in taking Affiliated Computer Services, Inc. private. Federal court claims were dismissed on the grounds that the claims were not ripe.

Joe Fogarty, et al

After a week-long arbitration hearing, obtained arbitration award and fraud finding arising out of an earlier mediation. The award provided the client with the total relief sought in the amount of $1.3 million.

Letha M. Gray

Hired by multiple plaintiffs involved in nursing home litigation to handle an appeal to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, successfully obtained reversal of the trial court’s order granting defendants’ motions to dismiss. The trial court had dismissed certain defendants from the case on fraudulent joinder grounds.  The Fifth Circuit reversed the district court’s finding in each case.

Wireless Communications Technology, Inc. v. National Law Firm

Represented national law firm in defense of a case involving claims of legal malpractice and breach of duty. Plaintiff sought millions of dollars in damages. Case settled favorably for client.

 Electroquil, S.A. v. General Electric International, Inc.

Represented Electroquil, an Ecuadorean company partially owned by Duke Energy Corporation, in ICC arbitration involving claims of breach of contract against General Electric involving a power generation facility in Ecuador owned by Electroquil. The case settled favorably for the client a few months before the arbitration hearing.