LITIGATION, ARBITRATION AND DISPUTE RESOLUTION

PDH LITIGATION ATTORNEYS GO BEYOND THE NORM

Litigation lawyers come in several types. Many lawyers are more interested in "milking the case," assigning work to associates, and "feeding the beast" as a former large law firm partner once put it, than in resolving client problems. Fortunately, most good lawyers are not of that flavor. Even some good lawyers, however, assume that they understand the client's dispute based on prior case experience, without the necessity of carefully listening to the facts of the client's specific dispute. Other lawyers serve as cheerleaders for the client's factual claims with unbridled enthusiasm, ignoring the fit between the "wrongs" and any legitimate legal cause of action. Both of these types of lawyers usually bill hard until the eve of trial when they realize that the actual evidence does not fit any legal cause of action pled, at which point they push their client to settle. We are proud that the lawyers at PDH absolutely do not fall into this category.

THE PDH APPROACH TO LITIGATION

We strive to listen carefully to all of the relevant facts, for it is often true that the rousing wrong is not the single best road to recovery under applicable law. We share the necessary elements of each potential cause of action with our clients in order to evaluate and develop the necessary evidence. Also, by understanding our clients, we are better able to develop such evidence and help in pre-litigation planning. If litigation is the best option, we efficiently and creatively choose the path that best achieves our clients’ goals. We understand that our objective as true business counselors is to choose the most cost effective route to the best outcome for our clients.

Knowing the strengths and weaknesses of each case, developing an attorney-client relationship of trust, and handling each matter within a common sense budget epitomizes the PDH litigation philosophy.

PDH’S DIVERSE LITIGATION PRACTICE

We represent companies in negotiated settlements, arbitrations, trials and appeals—in both federal and state courts. Multiple party, multiple forum issues where deciding the optimal forum (Federal Court, State Court or Arbitration) and the jurisdiction (Texas or some other state; USA or a foreign country) are always carefully analyzed. The types of disputes we become involved in are diverse and include:

• Business Disputes and Complex Litigation—both Plaintiff’s and Defendant’s
  Business dispute resolutions include shareholder, partner, and joint venture type disputes over ownership, control, buyout, management, fiduciary duty, and similar issues.
• Construction Law
  Construction dispute resolutions range from change order, back charge, and scope of work disputes, to work interference claims, to construction defect and onsite accidents, insurance company refusals to defend or pay, to collection of retainage, filing/collecting of mechanic’s liens, and litigating lien priorities.
• Employment Law
  Employment law dispute resolutions include: statutory rights, common law claims, and plain breach of contract issues; noncompete, noncircumvention, trade secret/proprietary information issues; and disputes involving shareholder rights, options, bonuses, and buyout provisions.
• Intellectual Property
  Intellectual property law dispute resolutions range from trademark, Lanham Act disputes including litigation over assignment, licensing, abandonment and related issues.
• Real Estate
  Real Estate dispute resolutions include title issues, judicial and non-judicial foreclosures, earnest money contracts and escrow disputes, lien priorities and subrogation issues, option issues, and lease disputes including calculation of additional rents.
• Product Liability
  Product liability dispute resolutions range from bodily injury claims to claims involving third party property damage, and may involve insurance companies’ refusal to defend or pay or where insurance companies agree to defend under reservation of rights or non-waiver of rights letters.

WHERE WE LITIGATE

• Bench and jury trials in state and federal courts across the U.S.
• Bankruptcy courts
• Appellate courts
• Arbitration where the remedy is established by contract
• Arbitration and/or mediation where agreed upon

REPRESENTATIVE DISPUTES HANDLED FOR PDH CLIENTS

The following is a representative sample of litigation and arbitration matters/disputes we have recently handled for PDH clients:

• Reached complex and comprehensive settlement on behalf of national steel processor against designer/fabricator of a bridge crane support structure in Kentucky and a second bridge crane support with the same design in Alabama, both of which were almost three football fields in length.
• Successful settlement of multi-million dollar claim asserted against a Texas-based general contractor involving litigation with the owner of numerous similarly designed/constructed buildings throughout the southeastern United States.
• Successful defense and recovery of Texas furniture dealer against suit filed by a California furniture manufacturer where a five-week trial was held in Los Angeles and appeal pursued with the California Appellate Court.
• Successful settlement of trucking accident claim where damages were asserted against manufacturing company exceeded liability and excess insurance in place by millions of dollars.
• Judgment obtained on behalf of a group of trucking companies holding as unconstitutional Section 4(f) of Senate Bill 1313. Bilbo Freight Lines v. Dan Morales C.A. No. H-93-3808 (U.S. District Court of Texas Houston Division).
• Judgment obtained on behalf of group of medical professionals holding as unconstitutional Texas House Bill 1327. Bailey v. Morales, 190 F.3d 320 (U.S. Fifth Circuit).
• Representation in arbitration of software company on employee/shareholder claims of wrongful termination, breach of fiduciary duty and shareholder oppression claims where arbitration award was less than dollar amount offered by client prior to assertion of claim.
• Successful defense of the largest privately held specialty food manufacturer in the United States from claims of ownership and royalty disputes by a former associate and holder of royalty agreement.
• Defense in arbitration before the International Chamber of Commerce and litigation of owner of offshore drill ship against claims by an offshore service provider.
• Successful pursuit of seven figure claim on behalf of multi-national investor group in defending specific performance and damage claims relating to title report on a large apartment complex in Riverside, California.
• Successful pursuit of claims on behalf of seller of national airport service provider for breach of the earn-out provisions under a stock purchase and related agreements against multi-national purchaser of such company.

Martyn B. Hill,
Managing Shareholder
Email Marty