Case Studies
Experience Driven Results
A Texas pesticide manufacturing company burned after a gas-vapor explosion occurred in an industrial oven used to melt chemicals for retail products.
After a company hired to perform maintenance dredging of a ship channel in the Gulf ran its dredge over a subsea gas pipeline, causing an explosion and fire, we filed suit against the dredging company, and against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, who had permitted both the pipeline installation and the dredging project.
A former investment banker accused our client of breaching an oral partnership agreement to identify and acquire oil and gas prospects and conspiring with a large private equity fund to misappropriate an opportunity to acquire an oil and gas company. A target was identified, but when the transaction closed, the plaintiff was left out of the deal. The plaintiff claimed he was deprived of a stake in the new business and sued our client, alleging a variety of business torts.
Initially represented by a different law firm, a world-scale petrochemical manufacturer and supplier filed a breach of contract claim against one of its customers, who was in the plastic fabrication business. In response, the customer asserted counterclaims for price discrimination under the Robinson-Patman Act and violations of the Uniform Commercial Code’s duty of good faith. The antitrust claims challenged the manufacturer’s ability to permit volume discounts. The UCC claim was based on the contention that the manufacturer acted in bad faith by setting commercially unreasonable and discriminatory prices for polystyrene.
An oil and gas operator drilling a well in southeast Texas experienced a “kick” of flow coming back up the well to surface. The drilling crew timely activated the pipe rams of the blowout preventer, but it failed to hold pressure, and the kick rapidly became a massive above-ground blowout. The drilling crew and rig personnel were forced to evacuate. A gas cloud formed and subsequently ignited, causing the rig to burn down. The blowout caused the loss of the well bore, drilling rig and equipment and delayed production from the well. Costs to redrill the well, fair market value of the rig and other equipment and deferred oil and gas production exceeded $20 million.
A former investment banker accused our client of breaching an oral partnership agreement to identify and acquire oil and gas prospects and conspiring with a large private equity fund to misappropriate an opportunity to acquire an oil and gas company. A target was identified, but when the transaction closed, the plaintiff was left out of the deal. The plaintiff claimed he was deprived of a stake in the new business and sued our client, alleging a variety of business torts.
After Hurricane Katrina downed five of its platforms and destroyed or damaged the associated wells and pipelines in the Gulf of Mexico, a Houston-based independent energy company sought recoveries under several insurance policies. After receiving in excess of $192 million under its energy package policy, the company sought an additional $50 million under a removal of wreckage and debris endorsement to its excess liability policy, claiming that its decommissioning obligations under certain federal regulations, triggered by its lease with the United States, were covered.
After Hurricane Katrina downed five of its platforms and destroyed or damaged the associated wells and pipelines in the Gulf of Mexico, a Houston-based independent energy company sought recoveries under several insurance policies. After receiving in excess of $192 million under its energy package policy, the company sought an additional $50 million under a removal of wreckage and debris endorsement to its excess liability policy, claiming that its decommissioning obligations under certain federal regulations, triggered by its lease with the United States, were covered.
An oil and gas operator drilling a well in southeast Texas experienced a “kick” of flow coming back up the well to surface. The drilling crew timely activated the pipe rams of the blowout preventer, but it failed to hold pressure, and the kick rapidly became a massive above-ground blowout. The drilling crew and rig personnel were forced to evacuate. A gas cloud formed and subsequently ignited, causing the rig to burn down. The blowout caused the loss of the well bore, drilling rig and equipment and delayed production from the well. Costs to redrill the well, fair market value of the rig and other equipment and deferred oil and gas production exceeded $20 million.
A Texas pesticide manufacturing company burned after a gas-vapor explosion occurred in an industrial oven used to melt chemicals for retail products.
After a company hired to perform maintenance dredging of a ship channel in the Gulf ran its dredge over a subsea gas pipeline, causing an explosion and fire, we filed suit against the dredging company, and against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, who had permitted both the pipeline installation and the dredging project.