© 2015 The Texas Lawbook.
By Mark Curriden
(June 8) – Dallas trial lawyer Warren Burns’ four-year-long contentious antitrust and commodities litigation against two London-based energy companies and a handful of their officials has resulted in a $16.5 million settlement.
The victory is especially sweet for Burns, who started his new law firm in March with Daniel Charest. The two men were previously partners at Susman Godfrey in Dallas.
According to the lawsuit, which was filed in 2011, the London energy companies and the individuals held futures positions in WTI in 2008 when they bought large amounts of the actual crude to artificially drive prices up – at which time they were able to take profits.
The complaint alleged that the defendants then sold their actual WTI crude, which drove down prices, allowing the energy companies to score another profit on the difference in the spread by taking yet another market position.
Burns’ lawsuit claimed that the energy companies’ scheme violated federal antitrust and commodities laws.
The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission conducted its own official investigation, which concluded last year with the companies agreeing to pay $13 million as part of a settlement agreement.
“We filed suit after the CFTC to try to ensure that individual victims would receive compensation,” Burns said. “We litigated this case for four years, reviewing millions of pages of documents, taking dozens of depositions and submitting numerous expert reports along the way.
“We believe that this is a very good outcome for those businesses and individuals who were harmed by this market manipulation,” he said. “Once the court approves the settlement, class members will be able to recover funds now, rather than bear the uncertainties of trial and collection.”
The New York judge overseeing the litigation must still approve the $16.5 million settlement before it is final.
New York lawyers Christopher Lovell and Christopher McGrath were co-counsel for the plaintiffs in the litigation.
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