Free Speech, Due Process and Trial by Jury
The two lawyers and their firms scored a record $61-plus million win in Fisher County when the jury determined a group of business partners conspired to cut their clients out of a lucrative mineral rights leasing deal
XTO Energy and Bank of America scored a win this week in a Dallas appellate court when a three-judge panel ruled that a trial court abused its discretion by allowing a derivative action lawsuit to continue with an investor of XTO’s publicly-traded royalty trust.
If the lawsuits were baseball games, shareholders and their lawyers trying to stop two San Antonio-based oil and gas pipeline and storage companies from merging were blown out in the first inning. Tesoro GC Charles Parrish hired Norton Rose Fulbright partner Gerry Pecht to defeat the securities litigation. He won the case before the first court hearing. Here's the story how.
Attorneys representing royalty owners in the explosion of litigation against energy companies are encouraged by a recent Texas Supreme Court ruling that interpreted a drilling lease as clearly excluding post-production costs from royalties. In a closely watched lease dispute, a sharply divided court agreed with the family that Chesapeake entities had improperly deducted post-production costs from royalties paid on gas wells located on 948 mineral acres in the Barnett Shale.
Lawsuits over contract disputes and regulatory battles with the government are larger litigation threats to Texas-based businesses – especially oil and gas companies – than are class action litigation from consumers and employees, according to a new study by the law firm Norton Rose Fulbright.
In a highly watched oil and gas case, the state's highest court issued a mixed decision in a case in which royalty owners allege self-dealing by executive mineral right-holders who negotiate drilling agreements. Experts say the ruling will likely lead to greater scrutiny by trial courts. The plaintiff's lawyer says his client is disappointed that oil and gas operators will not be held responsible in these kind of mineral rights disputes.
The three companies hired Barrett Reasoner, Paula Hinton and Winn Carter to fight Harris County's demand for $3 billion for the 1965 disposal of tons of sludge laced with dioxin.
Five decades ago, a Houston paper mill dumped tons of sludge laced with dioxin into pits near the San Jacinto River. Harris County is now asking a jury to force three corporations, including Houston-based Waste Management, to pay $1 billion in penalties for their actions. The trial, now in week three, features some of Houston’s premier courtroom litigators, including Paula Hinton, Barrett Reasoner, Robin Gibbs and Winn Carter. They argue the companies followed all environmental laws and guidelines. The Texas Lawbook has all the details of this potential lardmark trial underway in Houston.
The fees award follows two years of litigation in which Sierra Club claimed Luminant's Big Brown power plant violated the Clean Air Act.
DALLAS – Energy Transfer Partners’ expert witness told jurors Tuesday that the Seaway Pipeline joint venture between Enterprise Products and Enbridge “would not be the Seaway today” if not for
DALLAS – Opening statements Thursday in the billion-dollar legal battle between three oil and gas giants – Energy Transfer Partners, Enterprise Products and Enbridge – at times resembled a nasty,
Legal experts say it is the largest civil judgment ever awarded by a Dallas state court judge.
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