Firm News
SJGO Women's Network News . . . On February 15th Pamela Gardner joined us for lunch and spoke on the physical and metaphysical care of your heart. Pamela was President of Business Operations for the Houston Astros organization and the longest serving female executive in Major League Baseball. She retired in 2012 and is now CEO of Your Mind at Work, http://www.yourmindatwork.com/. We are looking forward to our next event in the Spring. Details to follow soon.
SJGO Women's Network is a forum for professional women in a variety of industries to share experiences, opportunities and successes while participating in professional, social and charitable events. We invite you to share your personal and professional successes and ideas with us on LinkedIn or join us on Facebook.
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On March 23, Firm attorneys Monica Oathout, Eric Hawley, and Zach Wolfe ran as a team in the Houston Bar Association 28th annual John J. Eikenburg Law Week 8K Fun Run, which raises money for the Center, a United Way agency dedicated to offering people with intellectual disabilities the opportunity to reach their full potential and to contribute to their community. The Firm was a Silver Sponsor of the event.
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Suzanna Bonham, Kelli Gunter and Jason Sharp were named 2013 Texas Rising Stars in the most recent edition of Super Lawyers (a Thomson Reuters Service). Suzanna Bonham was selected for business litigation and general litigation; Kelli Gunter was selected for insurance coverage; and Jason Sharp was selected for business litigation and insurance coverage. Super Lawyers is a rating service which recognizes outstanding lawyers who have attained a high-degree of peer recognition and professional achievement. The selection process is multi-phased and includes independent research, peer nominations and peer evaluations. The magazine, which includes the profiles of selected attorneys, is published in all 50 states and Washington, D.C., reaching more than 13 million readers.
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In February 2013 Zach Wolfe presented Litigating Cases Under the Texas Securities Act to the monthly meeting of the Houston Bar Association's Securities Litigation & Arbitration Section, along with a paper of the same name co-authored with Heather Kabele. The paper and presentation covered major issues, open questions, and recent developments in Texas Securities Act litigation, including pertinent comparisons between state and federal securities law, from both the plaintiff's and the defendant's perspective.
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Presentation to UT Securities Conference
Roger Greenberg and Zach Wolfe were panelists at the University of Texas School of Law's 2013 Securities Regulation and Business Law conference, along with Bob Craig of Charles River Associates. They presented a paper and panel discussion on the topic A Game of "Gotcha"? Emerging Standards Concerning Preservation (and Spoliation) of Electronically Stored Information to a diverse group including in-house counsel, transactional lawyers, litigators, and government lawyers. The panel addressed recent case law developments with an emphasis on the importance of following up on litigation holds.
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Seminar on Avoiding Spoliation of ESI
In February 2013 Roger Greenberg, Jason Sharp, and Zach Wolfe presented a continuing legal education seminar for the Houston Bar Association entitled You Deleted What? How to Meet the Duty to Preserve Electronically Stored Information and Avoid Spoliation of Evidence. The audience included in-house lawyers, outside counsel, a judge, and e-discovery consultants. The panel discussed nationwide trends, where Texas courts may be headed, and emerging best practices for avoiding spoliation.
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Summary Judgment in Title VII Case:
Monica Oathout and Michael Jones obtained summary judgment on all claims in a Title VII lawsuit from Judge Vanessa Gilmore of the United States District Court, Southern District of Texas. The Plaintiff asserted claims against SJGO's client for hostile work environment, gender discrimination and assault. The Plaintiff sought more than $500,000 in damages for front pay, back pay, and compensatory damages.
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Zach Wolfe presented a seminar for the Houston Bar Association on August 30, 2012, "Nothing But Blue Skies: Texas Securities Act Litigation." The presentation provided a practical guide to the elements of a Texas Securities Act claim, a discussion of recent cases and open issues, and comparisons to federal securities law. Ty Sponsel co-authored the paper presented at the seminar, and Roger Greenberg and Heather Kabele also provided input.
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Summary Judgment in Trade Secret Case
In a trade secret, covenant not to compete and tortious interference dispute in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas seeking $28 million in damages from the firm's client, the firm obtained a partial summary judgment that certain features of the product were not secret. The client is represented by Roger Greenberg and Jason Sharp.
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Summary Judgment in oil and gas case.
Ed Junell and Kyle Weynand recently obtained a summary judgment on all claims in an oil and gas dispute from Judge Karen K. Brown of the United State Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of Texas. The plaintiff asserted claims against defendants, our clients, for fraud, promissory estoppel, and negligent misrepresentation related to the drilling and alleged investment in an oil and gas prospect. Plaintiff sought more than $5.8 million dollars in damages.
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Favorable settlement in early mediation
Monica Oathout, David Finck, and Michael Jones obtained a favorable settlement on behalf of SJGO's client, the plaintiff in a construction case. In the fiercely contested dispute, SJGO's client sought damages arising from a $32 million dollar construction contract involving thousands of change orders, spanning several markets and several years. After over one year of venue disputes, the lawsuit was transferred to Texas and SJGO substituted in as counsel. SJGO hit the ground running, culled through hundreds of thousands of documents and put together a strategy to substantiate each change order. Then, prior to depositions, SJGO proposed mediation. At mediation, SJGO used the change order analysis (done without the assistance of experts) to present a solid and compelling case demonstrating why SJGO's client was owed a substantial sum of money and would prevail at trial. After a mediation lasting almost 12 hours, the case settled very favorably for SJGO's client.
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Insurance coverage obtained after denial
David Finck and Kelli Gunter successfully obtained coverage for the firm's client after the insurer denied coverage. After the firm filed a Motion for Partial Summary Judgment addressing the duty to defend issue, the insurer agreed to fund the entire settlement with the plaintiff in the underlying claim
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Environmental Contamination
David Finck and Jim Marrow successfully defended the firm's client, an oilfield services company, from claims brought by a real-estate developer, who alleged environmental contamination of his property. SJGO filed a motion for summary judgment asserting the property was not contaminated, the developer lacked standing to sue and the developer's claims were time-barred by the statute of limitations. The plaintiff dismissed all claims against the client, without any payment by the company.
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Sexual Harassment/Retaliatory Discharge Claim
SJGO defended its client against a former employee who alleged sexual harassment and retaliatory discharge. The plaintiff alleged she had complained about inappropriate remarks made to her in the workplace, was terminated shortly thereafter, and she had medical problems resulting from the stress related to the alleged harassment and discharge. After obtaining and reviewing extensive medical records and email correspondence, we were able to make the case that the medical issues pre-dated the alleged harassment and the plaintiff was not likely to have been offended by the alleged harassing statement. The case settled on favorable terms for the client, who was represented by David E. Finck and James C. Marrow.
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Zach Wolfe served as a panel member and moderator presenting the program, "Key Supreme Court Decisions Affecting Securities Law" at the U.T. 34th Annual Securities Regulation and Business Law Conference held at the Belo Mansion, Dallas, Texas on February 9-10, 2012. Roger Greenberg is a member of the Planning Committee for this annual CLE event.
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Dick Schwartz, Suzanna Bonham, Parker Fauntleroy, Roger Greenberg, Ed Junell and Monica Oathout have been selected in 2012 as Texas' Top Rated Lawyers by ALM for receiving an AV Preeminent rating in Martindale-Hubbell's peer review ratings. An AV Preeminent rating is a significant rating accomplishment - a testament to the fact that a lawyer's peers rank him or her at the highest level of professional excellence. In recognition of this honor these SJGO attorneys will be featured in Texas' Top Rated Lawyers, a special stand alone magazine that will be distributed in the Austin American-Statesman, The Dallas Morning News, Houston Chronicle, San Antonio Express-News and The Wall Street Journal. It will also be distributed with The Texas Lawyer, The American Lawyer, The National Law Journal, and Corporate Counsel magazine.
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SJGO Lawyers Receive Peer Recognition
Dick Schwartz, Ed Junell and Roger Greenberg were recently recognized in the Super Lawyers - Business Edition 2012 (a Thomson Reuters Service). Super Lawyers is a rating service of outstanding lawyers who have attained a high-degree of peer recognition and professional achievement. The new Business Edition features those attorneys who were previously selected in 2010 to the Super Lawyers list in specific business practice areas and is distributed to in-house counsel, and CEOs and presidents of Fortune 500 companies. Dick and Ed were selected in Business Litigation while Roger was selected in Securities Litigation.
Dick and Ed were also included in the 2011 Best Lawyers, Houston Edition, in a special supplement to the National Law Journal and The American Lawyer. Both were selected for Commercial Litigation and Dick was also selected for Alternative Dispute Resolution.
