Defended oilfield service company from personal injury claim arising from flash fire at well site.
Defended OCTG manufacturer in lawsuits arising from down hole casing failures in gas wells.
Defended manufacturer of an air-cooled heat exchanger from wrongful death claim arising from alleged product defect.
Defended specialty welding company in lawsuit involving wrongful death of an employee who asphyxiated while welding.
Defended provider of services to a steel mill in lawsuit arising from the death of a contractor at the mill.
Co-trial counsel representing refinery owner against manufacturer of an air-cooled heat exchanger that failed in normal service due to deficient and defective welds. $317+ million jury verdict against the manufacturer (settled before entry of verdict for $195 million).
Represented a chemical plant and its insurers in recovery action against maintenance contractor who placed a scaffold member in a location where it blocked the swing-arm of a non-return valve on a high-pressure steam line resulting in an overspeed and catastrophic failure of the turbine.
Recovered from prime contractor and subcontractor who negligently installed fire protection piping that failed, flooding the clients’ finished products warehouse.
Represented refinery owner in recovery action against contractor who breached the refinery’s line breaking protocol, resulting in a hydrocarbon release and fire that caused severe damage to the crude unit’s vacuum tower.
Defense verdict for gas utility client; the plaintiff sued the local gas utility for causing gas leak in her home after the installation of a new gas dryer. At trial, proved the fire began in a location away from the supposed gas leak, and showed the fire was electrical in nature. The jury unanimously found in favor of the utility company.
Defense verdict for property management company: the plaintiff sued claiming the elevator in a commercial building “fell” causing a back injury. The plaintiff had preexisting scoliosis requiring spinal revision surgery prior to the accident. The elevator was determined to have defectively installed wiring, causing it to lose signal during operation. The plaintiff presented $800,000+ in medical bills and lost earnings of approximately $230,000 per year; asked for $15–$19 million in closing arguments. The jury placed all fault on the designated responsible third party.
Arbitration
Represented local beverage distributor against employee who sought damages for an on the job back injury. The employer was a nonsubscriber but had a mandatory arbitration provision in its employment agreement. The plaintiff underwent a cervical fusion and had a recommendation for a lumbar fusion. The arbiter awarded approximately 1/7 of the damages sought in arbitration.
Represented Underwriters of construction all risk policy covering the construction of a power plant. The loss involved a physical loss and construction delay claim resulting from an accident that damaged critical components of the plant while those components were in transit. Underwriters paid the undisputed portions of the physical damage and delay claims. The insured sought an additional $2.4 million in benefits under the Soft Costs provision of the policy. Prior to the arbitration hearing, the arbitration panel found no evidence of bad faith on the part of Underwriters and granted our motion for summary judgment on this issue. At arbitration, the panel awarded less than half of the additional damages sought by the insured. After accounting for legal expenses, Underwriters saved $1+ million on the claim.