BP Oil Pipeline Co. v. Plains Pipeline, L.P.
AZA defended Plains All American Pipeline against BP Oil Pipeline Company’s claims for indemnity in a pipeline dispute. The court later awarded Plains Pipeline $453,400 in attorneys’ fees.
BP sought to force Plains Pipeline to indemnify BP in a Louisiana lawsuit. Before AZA was hired, the Court granted summary judgment for BP, requiring Plains to cover BP’s losses, including attorneys’ fees. AZA asked the court to reconsider, got the summary judgment reversed, and won summary judgment for Plains, obtaining the substantial attorneys’ fees for Plains for defending the lawsuit.
AZA Lawyers: John Zavitsanos and Elizabeth Pannill Fletcher.
Case Type: Energy, Litigation Defense
Sentinel Integrity Solutions, Inc. v. Mistras Group, Inc. (Trademark)
AZA defended Mistras Group, Inc., a major nondestructive testing provider, against claims for trademark infringement and dilution brought by Sentinel Integrity Solutions Inc. Sentinel brought a claim for $8 million in damages. AZA not only won on the trademark infringement claim with the federal judge, but got the jury to agree to invalidate the trademark.
After hiring AZA, Mistras filed counterclaims against Sentinel, the owner of a stylized logo and registered trademark, seeking to have the trademark invalidated and, further, seeking a declaratory judgment finding that the trademark is a widely used phrase that was generic or descriptive, and could not be trademarked.
After both parties’ evidence had been presented to a jury in federal court in Houston, the court granted judgment as a matter of law for Mistras on the trademark infringement claim, and the jury later found for Mistras on all the remaining claims, finding that the trademark was generic.
The court issued a final judgment awarding Mistras the relief it sought, including an order cancelling the trademark, as well as its costs, and denying all of the Sentinel’s claims.
AZA Lawyers: John Zavitsanos, Elizabeth Pannill Fletcher, Todd Mensing and Jane Langdell Robinson.
Case Type: Energy, Intellectual Property, Litigation Defense
MBI Global L.L.C. v. Hunter Buildings & Manufacturing, L.P. et al.
AZA, successfully represented Milo Nickel and Michael LeBlanc, former executives of plaintiff MBI Global LLC., a manufacturer of modular blast-resistant buildings. MBI accused the men of breaching their fiduciary duty, and misappropriating trade secrets to launch the competing business BBG Group with co-defendant Hunter Buildings & Manufacturing, L.P.
AZA parachuted into the trial five days before jury selection. Before trial MBI claimed damages of at least $100 million, but was awarded $4.4 million, with jurors issuing zero-responsibility findings against AZA clients Mr. Nickel and Mr. LeBlanc. Despite this, the trial court ruled all the defendants were liable for the verdict.
The Harris County’s 14th Court of Appeals later said the trial court erred by disregarding the jury’s zero-responsibility finding for Mr. Nickel and Mr. LeBlanc, and also ruled that the evidence didn’t show any defendants caused MBI’s alleged damages. A take-nothing judgment was entered in favor of all the defendants.
AZA lawyer: Todd Mensing. AZA served as lead counsel for its clients in trial and on appeal.
Case Type: Litigation Defense, Trade Secrets/Non-Competes
Sentinel Integrity Solutions, Inc. v. Mistras Group, Inc., et al.
Sentinel Integrity Solutions, Inc. v. Mistras Group, Inc., et al.
AZA successfully defended Mistras Group, Inc. and its employees in a $9 million lawsuit alleging breach of non-competition agreements, theft of trade secrets and tortious interference.
Mistras, a global leader in assessing the safety of large corporate infrastructure components such as refineries and bridges, was wrongly accused by competitor Sentinel Integrity Solutions of tortious interference. AZA defeated Sentinel’s efforts to obtain a temporary restraining order and a temporary injunction, and later prevailed in a three-week jury trial. AZA also convinced the jury to make Sentinel pay $750,000 in attorneys’ fees through trial plus fees on appeal.
The appellate court affirmed the trial court’s final judgment, upholding the $750,000 fee award to AZA’s client. According to Texas Lawyer and Verdict Search, this original jury award of attorneys’ fees was the fourth-largest defense verdict delivered in Texas in 2011.
AZA Lawyers: John Zavitsanos and Elizabeth Pannill Fletcher. AZA served as lead counsel for both trial and appeal.
Case Type: Energy, Litigation Defense, Trade Secrets/Non-Competes
IEVM v. United Energy Group Ltd., et al.
AZA developed the winning argument that knocked this $46.5 million fraud and breach of contract case out of court before AZA’s client was even required to participate in discovery. AZA was able to destroy the case against its client even though a co-defendant was not able to obtain the same clean win.
Energy investment bank Mueller Chen & Co LLC represented Hong Kong-based United Energy Group Ltd. (“UEG”) in its 2011 acquisition of BP’s exploration and production assets in Pakistan for around $800 million. A consulting group, International Energy Ventures Management LLC (“IEVM”), assisted United Energy Group in evaluating the BP assets. IEVM then claimed it was owed a $46.5 million success fee following the acquisition.
AZA used the same facts IEVM used to support its claims, but AZA applied new, more robust legal analysis in arguing that IEVM’s claims for fraud and breach of contract were fundamentally flawed. The court agreed, unconditionally dismissing all claims against AZA’s client.
AZA lawyers: Elizabeth Fletcher.
Case Type: Energy, Litigation Defense
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