© 2014 The Texas Lawbook.
By Mark Curriden, JD
Senior Writer for The Texas Lawbook
(April 22) –Energy Transfer Partners is asking a judge to award it $914.6 million for damages it suffered over an alleged joint venture with Houston-based Enterprise Products Partners that failed in 2011.
A Dallas jury ruled in March that Dallas-based ETP and Enterprise formed a partnership in an effort to jointly build a pipeline from Cushing, Okla., to the Gulf Coast and that Enterprise violated the partnership when it decided to walk away from its plans with ETP in order to do a more lucrative project with another competitor.
In court documents filed Tuesday, ETP lawyer Mike Lynn asked Dallas District Judge Emily Tobolowsky to order Enterprise to pay the energy giant the $319.4 million. But Lynn demands an additional $595.2 million from Enterprise because the jury also found as part of its verdict that Enterprise received that amount in improper benefits as a result of its breach of duty with ETP.
Lawyers for ETP and Enterprise declined to comment. Judge Tobolowsky is expected to hear arguments on the damage award in the next month.
Enterprise argues that it never had a legally binding partnership with ETP and that it shouldn’t have to pay a dime in damages.
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