Commercial Cases
Union Pacific Railroad, with operations in 23 states, is the largest railroad in North America.
Weingarten Realty Investors, one of the largest real estate investment trust companies listed on the NYSE, owns and manages approximately 300 retail properties that span the southern portion of the United States.
SYMON Communications is the worldwide market leader in real-time communications solutions, serving more than two thirds of the Fortune 100 companies.
Choice Energy is a leader in over-the-counter institutional energy brokerage in North America.
Resun Leasing is the leading provider of turnkey, engineered space solutions for movable and permanent modular buildings for the government, commercial, educational and healthcare markets.
FCJ represents Igloo Products Corp. in both commercial/general litigation matters as well as defense of employee injury claims.
FCJ is involved in the representation of a leader in the digital real-time sign industry in enforcement of non-compete and confidentiality agreement, including temporary injunction preventing former high level employees from setting up competing business.
Battle Mountain Gold. v. ERNW
Claim by owner of gold mine and counterclaim by FCJ client ERNW for breach of contract related to environmental reclamation of a gold mine located in San Luis, Colorado. The case settled favorably to FCJ’s client after a week of trial in Federal Court.
Betz Realty Investors v. Synpase Medical Plaza, Ltd.
Suit by client Betz Realty against physician-developers of a medical office building for fraudulent inducement and breach of contract. After two days of trial in Houston state court, defendants agreed to client's settlement demand and reimbursed all out-of-pocket expenses and fees.
Boswell, et al v. Mt. Airy Trading Co., Inc. and Langham-Hill Petroleum Co., et al
The Boswell clients, the five children of the former owner of Mt. Airy Trading Co. ("MATCO"), sued an oil-trader who had purchased MATCO for breach of the purchase and sale agreement in which the purchaser agreed to pay as part of the purchase price a percentage royalty of MATCO's "net profits . . . as determined in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles" for a period of seven years after the sale. Rather than continuing to operate MATCO, purchaser diverted MATCO's transactions to a newly formed entity, earning nearly $40 million dollars of "marked-to-market" profits in the process, to avoid paying any of the royalty purchase price. After a four-week trial, the jury awarded the precise amount of damages sought by the Plaintiffs, which with pre-judgment interest totaled nearly $10 million dollars. The case was ultimately settled while on appeal.
Burris, et al v. Sigma Financial Services, et al
In an NASD Arbitration proceeding, FCJ's seventeen clients asserted fraud and breach of fiduciary duty claims against their broker and broker dealer related to their investment in a company whose shares were traded on the "pink sheets" as a "penny stock." After it was publicly divulged that the chief executive of the penny stock company was a convicted felon, the company filed bankruptcy causing the stock, which had been purchased by claimants for as much as $3.00 per share, to be worthless. After proving in the two and one-half week arbitration that the respondents knew of this fact but had failed to disclose it to the claimants, the panel awarded claimants damages in excess of $1.2 million.
Howell Petroleum Co. v. ExxonMobil Corporation
Howell claimed Exxon was a holdover tenant of crude oil storage tanks sold to Howell as part of a multi-million dollar asset sale by Exxon, which had simultaneously leased back the tanks. At issue was which company had the obligation to clean bottoms from the tanks after termination of the lease. After a two week trial, the jury returned a take nothing verdict in favor of FCJ's client, ExxonMobil.
Ishmael v. PacifiCare
Class action suit against Medicare HMO asserted by members when their HMO changed their Primary Care Physicians (PCP) to doctors who were located far from their homes, in some instances as far as 120 miles away. Because members were not allowed to see specialists or fill prescriptions without first seeing their PCP, which required a three to five hour drive, many members were in effect deprived of medical care. FCJ obtained entry of an agreed order which permitted the class members to see the PCP of their choice at the HMO's expense, ordered the HMO to reimburse the members for travel or medical expenses they had incurred as a result of the arbitrary appointment of new PCPs, and awarded FCJ attorneys' fees be paid by the HMO.
Mayfair Capital Corp. v. KPMG and Emtel, Inc.
FCJ's client, Mayfair Capital, a venture capital company headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, entered into a written reverse take-over merger agreement with Emtel, a Houston company of emergency room physicians utilizing advanced telecommunications for remote operations of rural emergency rooms. The agreement contemplated a simultaneous public offering on the Canadian Venture Exchange, known as the "CDNX." Mayfair contracted with big-five accounting firm KPMG to conduct due diligence on Emtel and prepare a business plan for the to-be-formed public company, both requirements of the CDNX. The KPMG accountant assigned to the engagement in Houston had an affair with a high ranking employee of Emtel and then convinced its President that he could negotiate a better deal for the company at the expense of Mayfair, his client. At mediation, just before trial, the case was settled on confidential terms.
Stinger v. Stewart & Stevenson, et al
Minority shareholder derivative claims asserted against FCJ client Stewart & Stevenson Services, Inc., a NYSE publicly-traded company, along with its officers and directors, in which it was alleged that the defendants had breached their fiduciary duty to the corporation. After the Plaintiff had presented his evidence to a jury, the trial court granted a directed verdict dismissing all claims against the Defendants, a result upheld on appeal.
Weinert v. Geosouthern Energy Corporation and Union Pacific Resources Company
Suit by putative royalty owners against FCJ client Geosouthern Energy and UPRC alleging fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, and breach of contract related to mineral leases for horizontal drilling rights on property located in the Austin Chalk in Central Texas. After a trial to a jury, a take nothing judgment was entered in favor of Geosouthern Energy and UPRC.
Wells Fargo National Bank v. MetLife
Wells Fargo filed suit against MetLife for a declaratory judgment related to its lease for office space and parking in downtown Houston. Given that the lease provided Wells Fargo with renewal options for 160 years, the dispute related to future rentals of hundreds of millions of dollars, which, of course, significantly impacted both parties. Summary judgment was entered in favor of MetLIfe and attorneys' fees awarded; the result upheld on appeal.
Every case is different and the results obtained depend on the facts of each case. Results similar to those described above, therefore, might not be obtained in your case.