Brittany Ringel Walton had just put her four-year-old twins and two-year-old son to bed the evening of July 27, 2021, when she received an urgent call from her company’s crisis management team.
There had been an incident involving a leak at LyondellBasell’s 550-acre La Porte Complex on the south shore of the Houston Ship Channel, causing the release of more than 100,000 pounds of acetic acid. There were two fatalities, and another 30 people were taken to the hospital.
Within minutes, Walton, who was senior counsel at LyondellBasell, was in her Chevy Traverse SUV traveling to the scene, where she spent the entire night and much of the next day.
Lawyers close to Walton say her first concern was the health and safety of her LyondellBasell colleagues at the La Porte facility and those impacted by the incident. However, she also quickly comprehended the legal and regulatory issues that would come from the tragic event and immediately took the steps necessary to start investigating and addressing those issues and concerns.
The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration, along with other state and federal agencies, immediately opened investigations. More than 75 workers and contractors filed lawsuits.The injuries and deaths of the workers — combined with the onslaught of governmental and civil investigations and lawsuits — exposed the companies to potentially hundreds of millions in legal claims and penalties.
Instead, Walton’s thoughtful and proactive leadership that hot, humid night, the next day and throughout the legal processes during the past three years since the tragedy led to widespread praise and acclaim from company leaders, the board of directors and employees. Dozens of plaintiffs’ claims have been dismissed. LyondellBasell successfully challenged citations issued by federal regulators. Only one on-site individual plaintiff’s case against LyondellBasell remains on the court docket.
Citing Walton’s success and leadership under pressure, the Association of Corporate Counsel’s Houston Chapter and The Texas Lawbook have named Walton a finalist for the 2024 Houston Corporate Counsel Award for Senior Counsel of the Year for a Large Legal Department.
Walton and other finalists will be honored Wednesday evening at a ceremony at the Four Seasons Hotel in downtown Houston.
“Many lawyers shrink in the face of a crisis,” said Monica Uddin, a partner at Ahmad, Zavitsanos & Mensing. “Particularly when that crisis involves the release of more than 100,000 pounds of acetic acid due to the mistake of a contractor at a company site [along with] the injuries of several workers, two tragic deaths and immediate follow-on governmental and civil investigations and lawsuits that last years and expose the companies to millions — or even billions — in potential damages.”
“Brittany Ringel Walton is not one of those lawyers,” said Uddin, who nominated Walton for the honor. “Instead of shrinking, waffling or being intimidated, Brittany sprang to action, making hard decisions. Brittany led the crisis management response and hired counsel within hours of the incident to represent LyondellBasell. She was instrumental in working with lawyers, site supervisors and the company’s employees to preserve evidence of what happened.”
AZA Of Counsel Kyle Poelker said Walton’s decisive actions within minutes and hours of the leak occurring — as well as in the weeks and months that followed — paid significant dividends for LyondellBasell.
“Brittany organized and executed a plan to conduct preliminary interviews with all relevant personnel and outside counsel, and managed an orderly process for collecting electronic data,” Poelker said. “Significantly, she put company resources to work to ensure that any employee impacted by the chemical release had the proper physical, medical and emotional support to cope with the events of that night.”
Mark Waite, a partner at Vasquez Waite, has worked with Walton for years.
“Brittany stands out because of her focus on the case, taking care to ensure that even the ‘little things’ are getting handled but without losing sight of the bigger picture,” Waite said. “She’s practical, thoughtful and truly considers her legal colleagues — inside and out — as a team working together for the client.”
Premium Subscriber Q&A: LyondellBasell’s Brittany Ringel Walton shares what outside counsel needs to know about her and more.
“She’s not afraid to have challenging conversations, whether procedural, cost or substantive, which many in-house counsel are loathe to do,” he said. “And, in the end, she always remembers to say, ‘thank you’ and to give and receive compliments with grace and appreciation. And she spreads that appreciation not just to her legal team but also to the internal clients and individuals within the company she represents.”
Walton was born in Kansas City and lived there until she was eight years old. In 1991, the family moved to Arlington, Texas. Her dad was a physical therapist who would go on to start a business. Her mom has a chemistry degree and taught school before staying home with the four kids.
Walton attended UCLA, where she played varsity basketball and volleyball and majored in political science. She then moved from Los Angeles to Waco to attend law school at Baylor University.
She earned her law degree in 2009 and went to work at Beirne, Maynard & Parsons, a prominent Houston litigation boutique that merged with Akerman in 2016.
In 2014, Walton took her first in-house counsel position at Siemens.
“It was an opportunity to diversify my practice to add commercial experience,” she said. “I quickly transitioned to a commercial role. It helped that my boss also had a litigation background and previously made the transition. I met with an impactful career coach to talk through the decision of whether to move in-house and if the timing was right.”
In 2018, LyondellBasell hired Walton as its senior counsel over disputes.
“It was a chance to get back to and manage litigation,” she said. “It was an opportunity to be one of two lawyers handling litigation globally for a $32 billion market cap plastics and chemical company. Before I joined LYB, I thought of the LYB legal team as the ‘dream team’ based on the people I knew. Plus, it was an opportunity to join the impressive Beirne, Maynard & Parsons pipeline at LYB and reconnect with team members I previously worked with.”
Walton points out that four general counsel — former LyondellBasell GC and now General Motors GC Craig Glidden, current LyondellBasell GC Jeff Kaplan, Air Liquide GC Kevin Feeney and Chevron Phillips Chemical GC Tim Hill — have Beirne Maynard roots.
Walton said the biggest challenge since joining LyondellBasell has been adapting to and leading through changes caused by acquisitions, joint ventures, industry evolution, corporate reorganizations and a new chief executive officer.
Then came July 27, 2021, and its aftermath.
OSHA issued a handful of citations to LyondellBasell.
“Brittany exercised her judgment to challenge the citations and take the matter to trial,” Uddin said. “Her judgment to fight the OSHA citations while civil cases were pending proved invaluable in avoiding significant liability.”
Walton praises the strong work by lawyers at Baker Botts and LyondellBasell environmental lawyers for leading the successful regulatory challenges.
“The biggest challenge,” according to Walton, was the “simultaneous, multiple regulatory investigations while the underlying incident investigation is ongoing. Plus, the OSHA citations did not fit with the facts of our incident.”
Barely 24 hours had elapsed when the first civil lawsuits were filed. In the end, 15 lawsuits with more than 75 plaintiffs claimed injuries as a result of the chemical release and brought litigation.
“Brittany decided not to fold. Quick settlement would have been easy and justifiable,” Uddin said. “Instead, Brittany, along with her outside counsel at AZA, decided to strike first in the multidistrict litigation in which the civil claims had been consolidated.”
Texas courts combined the lawsuits into a multidistrict litigation in Harris County District Court.
LyondellBasell, with Walton guiding the way, moved for summary judgment based on Texas’ statutory Owner-Controlled Insurance Program bar on recovery for plaintiffs who received workers’ compensation benefits from LyondellBasell.
“Despite vicious discovery battles that included the presentation of five fact witnesses and two corporate representatives for deposition in a three-week period, thousands of pages of briefing and exhibits and nearly six hours of oral argument on the matter, Brittany never wavered,” Poelker said.
The MDL court dismissed 45 plaintiffs’ claims against LyondellBasell based on the OCIP exclusive remedy provision, saving the company millions, if not billions, of dollars in potential liabilities.
Walton then “moved swiftly to secure reasonable settlements” with plaintiffs whose claims were not barred by the exclusive remedy, Poelker said. LyondellBasell worked with insurers and other parties to achieve settlements that should result in the company paying “little if anything out of pocket.”
“What started as a case with 57 contractor plaintiffs with claims against LYB is now a case where just two contractor plaintiffs have claims against LyondellBasell,” Uddin said. “Plaintiffs are now looking to LyondellBasell to provide key evidence in their case against other parties that exculpates LyondellBasell’s actions on the night of the incident.”
“We have narrowed the scope and only have one on-site plaintiff remaining,” Walton said. “We resolved the two death cases and obtained dismissal of 45 plaintiffs through motions upholding our owner-controlled insurance program. It is important to note that this does not mean the individuals that were subject to this ruling are without a remedy. Rather, our insurance program and workers’ compensation are providing medical care and benefits that are their exclusive remedy.”
Houston trial lawyer Cara Vasquez said Walton is more than just a great lawyer.
“She is a champion for women and men, truly believes in empowering people and juggles all of this with three young kids at home,” Vasquez said. “Brittany has on so many occasions connected me with powerful women in the legal industry. She effortlessly networks — for other women — without getting anything in return. That is a true testament to her.”