In this edition of Litigation Roundup, Citgo Petroleum hires defense attorneys in a $100 million Citgo 6 lawsuit, a litigation funder says a Philadelphia firm owes $13.4 million and a former county attorney gets indicted on public corruption charges.
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Harris County District Court
Landry’s Accuses Distillery, Animal Preserve of Trademark Violations
In separate recently filed trademark infringement lawsuits, Landry’s is accusing Landry Distillery and the Houston Interactive Aquarium & Animal Preserve of infringing its trademarks.
Landry’s, a vast restaurant and hospitality group that operates Houston’s Downtown Aquarium restaurant, sued the distillery in state district court March 29 and followed up in federal court March 31 with the claims against the animal preserve.
The distilling company filed applications with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in July 2021 to register the word marks “Landry Distillery,” “Landry Oaks,” and “Landry Stakes” for use in marketing its whiskey products, according to the lawsuit.
Despite receiving a cease-and-desist letter from Landry’s in August 2021, the company began selling products using the Landry name in November 2021.
The USPTO, in January 2022, refused the applications citing a “likelihood of confusion” with the Landry’s marks.
“Defendants ignored both Landry’s Trademark Holders letters and the USPTO’s rejection of the Landry Distillery Applications,” Landry’s alleges. “Instead, defendants continued manufacturing, selling and distributing bourbon labeled with the Landry Distillery, Landry Stakes, and Landry Oaks marks in Harris County, and throughout Texas. Defendants even eventually expanded to New Mexico and California, through alcohol retailers and distributors.”
The lawsuit against Landry Distilling also names its owner, Lowell Zachary Landry, as a defendant.
In the other lawsuit, Landry’s alleges there has already been actual confusion in the marketplace regarding the Houston Interactive Aquarium & Animal Preserve in Humble, as evidenced by a group Atascocita Springs Elementary School students who showed up at its downtown Houston restaurant purportedly with admission passes.
“These children showed up at Landry’s Houston Downtown Aquarium with the incorrect passes because defendant’s tortious conduct confused them such that they had purchased passes to the Houston Interactive Aquarium instead,” the suit alleges. “When confronted by Landry’s about the confusion and harm that they were causing, Mr. [Ammon] Covino said ‘[he] cannot control stupid customers.’”
Landry’s Downtown Aquarium restaurant features vast aquariums housing more than 300 species of marine life, games, rides including a Ferris wheel, and a white tiger exhibit.
Landry’s is represented in both actions by John Zavitsanos, Alexander M. Dvorscak and Lila Glaser of Ahmad Zavitsanos & Mensing.
None of the defendants had retained counsel as of Monday, according to court records.
The Harris County case number is 2023-20455. The federal case number is 4:23-cv-01229.
Litigation Funder Says Law Firm Owes $13.4M
Litigation funding company Virage SPV I has accused the law firm Sacks Weston of defaulting on a litigation loan and is seeking $13.4 million in damages.
The lawsuit, filed March 24, also names Andrew Bradley Sacks, John K. Weston, Scott E. Diamond and Diamond Law as defendants. Diamond was “forced to leave the firm” in July 2020, the lawsuit alleges, and he pled guilty to felony fraud charges in federal court in November 2022 and has since been sentenced to prison.
The firm, then known as Sacks Weston Diamond, entered a loan agreement with Virage in June 2017, according to the lawsuit, that replaced a prior loan agreement from January 2017, under which Virage would loan it about $5.8 million.
In exchange for the loan, the firm was to pay Virage 60 percent of all proceeds earned from the litigation the loan funded as well as the principal amount of the loan, plus interest.
As of the filing of the suit, Virage alleges the firm has only repaid about $740,000.
Virage alleges that Sacks transferred a home in Philadelphia and a vacation home on the New Jersey shore to his family members “in exchange for little or no consideration.”
“Sacks transferred the transferred assets with actual intent to hinder, delay, or defraud Virage,” the suit alleges. “Specifically, in June 2022, Sacks told Virage that, because of these transfers, Virage would be unable to collect on the unpaid value of the loan agreement because he was effectively ‘judgment proof’ and had been advised that Virage could now not collect on the transferred assets through any proceeding against him as a guarantor, including bankruptcy.”
Virage is represented by Todd Mensing, Cameron Byrd and Alexander M. Dvorscak of Ahmad Zavitsanos & Mensing.
The defendants had not retained counsel as of Monday.
The case number is 2023-19385.
Southern District of Texas
Ex-County Attorney Indicted on Bribery, Extortion Charges
The former Starr County attorney, Victor Canales Jr., has been named in a nine-count indictment on public corruption charges related to his conduct while in office and made his initial appearance in federal court in McAllen Monday morning.
The government alleges that Canales, who had authority to collect fines and discretion regarding which offenses to prosecute in court, would request fines and fees be given to him in cash or money order and then would deposit those funds into his personal account rather than the Starr County attorney’s office account.
Canales won election and began serving as county attorney on Jan. 1, 2005, and left office April 20, 2022. The following day, the news website myrgv.com reported on Canales’ “abrupt” retirement from office, noting it was not accompanied by an explanation.
According to court records, a bench warrant was issued for Canales April 5, the same day the indictment was filed, and he was arrested in Rio Grande City on Friday.
He is charged with one count of violating the Travel Act, four counts of theft from a federal program and four counts of violating the Hobbs Act.
Canales Jr. is represented by Arnulfo Guerra of McAllen.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Patricia Cook Profit is prosecuting the case for the government.
The case number is 7:23-cr-00523.
Citgo Hires Defense Attorney in $100M ‘Citgo 6’ Lawsuit
Houston attorney John Zavitsanos of Ahmad Zavitsanos & Mensing filed notice of appearance Friday that he will be the lead attorney defending Citgo Petroleum against the claims of one member of the so-called Citgo 6, Tomeu Vadell.
Vadell, who hired Rusty Hardin and his law firm to file the lawsuit that was removed to federal court March 24, was one of six Citgo employees who were arrested by the Venezuelan government during a 2017 visit to meet with leaders of PDVSA, the Venezuelan state-owned oil company that owns a majority of Houston-based Citgo.
Vadell was arrested in November 2017 and imprisoned for more than four years — 1,775 days — until his release Oct. 1, 2022, in exchange for the United States releasing two nephews of Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro’s wife, who had been convicted on drug charges.
The lawsuit is seeking more than $100 million in damages and accuses Citgo of using Vadell as a “pawn” in its “dangerous game of deception.”
“As a result of Citgo’s malfeasance, Tomeu lost five years of his life,” the suit alleges. “Not only was he deprived of his freedom, but he was also physically and psychologically tortured. His most basic human rights were routinely violated.”
As of Monday, Citgo hadn’t filed an answer in the lawsuit.
Vadell is also represented by Daniel Dutko, Joe M. Roden, Laura Hollingsworth and Megan Moore of Rusty Hardin & Associates.
Citgo is also represented by Joanne R. Bush of Jones Day.
The case number is 4:23-cv-01082.
Northern District of Texas
Jury Says Ex-Cop Owes Millions for Murder of Teen
A former Balch Springs police officer, who is serving a 15-year prison sentence for the fatal shooting of a teenager, was recently found civilly liable for the conduct as well.
According to the verdict form, the jury found Roy Oliver acted with “malice or reckless indifference” to the rights of Jordan Edwards when he shot and killed him on April 29, 2017, and awarded the family $11 million in punitive damages.
The Edwards family brought this lawsuit in May 2017, court records show, and a stay was entered for about a year until September 2018 while a criminal trial against Oliver proceeded.
Oliver was convicted of murder and sentenced to 15 years in prison on Aug. 29, 2018. He was accused of firing a rifle five times at a fleeing car that Edwards and four other teenagers were riding in, striking Edwards in the head.
This bifurcated civil trial started before U.S. District Judge Barbara M.G. Lynn March 27, and the panel returned its verdict April 3.
In the first part of the trial, the jury determined liability and actual damages. In that phase, the jury found Oliver had used excessive force against Edwards and that qualified immunity didn’t shield him from liability for the conduct.
The jury awarded about $10.6 million in actual damages, bringing the total award against Oliver to $21.6 million.
The family is represented by Shelby White of Durham Pittard & Spalding, Daryl K. Washington of Washington Law Firm and J. Gregory Marks of Keller, Texas.
Oliver is represented by William Krueger of the Law Office of William W. Krueger and Kim Atwell of Secore & Waller.
The case number is 3:17-cv-01208.