Craig Dillard

Representative Matters

Commercial Litigation

• Obtained a directed verdict in favor of our client following the conclusion of the plaintiff’s case-in-chief in a multi-day jury trial a breach of contract claim in Rockport, Texas
• Successfully represented a nationwide manufacturing client in a class action lawsuit related to an alleged product defect potentially impacting millions of vehicles across the country
• Successfully defended a manufacturing client in a multi fatality alleged product defect claim that resulted in an early case dismissal of our client
• Obtained an early case settlement for a large midstream company in a product defect lawsuit arising out of a failed pipe fitting, which resulted in recovery of all alleged damages and all attorney’s fees incurred
• Successfully defended a manufacturing company in a redhibition and breach of warranty trial in Louisiana
• Successfully represented a plaintiff, a former partner of Houston-based engineering company in a dispute related to a written shareholders’ agreement resulting in $2.6 million jury award
• Successfully defended a nationwide manufacturer in lawsuit brought under the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act in Galveston County, Texas in which the jury rendered a unanimous verdict in favor of client in less than 15 minutes in the two day trial
• Obtained successful jury verdict for the owner of a hotel against a large group of customers who canceled a series of contracts claiming the hotel’s service had diminished--although we began the trial as the defendant, we were able to obtain a directed verdict on all of the Plaintiff’s claims and then obtained a unanimous jury verdict on our client’s counterclaims               
• Our client contracted with a construction company to perform “cut and fill” and grading work. The contractor sued for approximately $4.5 million for alleged failure to pay for extra work on delay damages. A summary judgment for our client was awarded when it was shown that the contractor had signed a series of lien waivers and releases, which released their claims for additional compensation as a matter of law. The summary judgment was affirmed by a unanimous Fifth Circuit opinion which created case law in Texas related to the enforceability of releases in construction contracts
• Successfully represented the owner of a 10,000-acre master planned residential community in Harris County, Texas in obtaining a bill of review vacating a $187,000 default judgment obtained against our client
• Successfully defended an owner of a healthcare company against a former employee who alleged that they were partners in the company based on a written partnership agreement that the owner drafted and offered to the employee
• Successfully defended the owner of a large oilfield pipe threading company in Harris County, Texas who was alleged to have contributed to the securement of a driver’s load of pipe, which the plaintiffs claimed shifted during a motor vehicle accident causing or contributing to cause the accident and resulting in the death of a mother and child
• Obtained a summary judgment on behalf of a prominent midstream energy company for $366,588.59 (plus all attorney’s fees and interest) in a breach of contract dispute related to charges associated with the compression, gathering, treatment, and transportation of natural gas 
• Successfully represented a national healthcare company against a False Claims Act/qui tam claim. Secured a complete dismissal of all of the plaintiff’s claims, with prejudice, and an award of reasonable attorney’s fees and expenses against the relator
• Successfully defended a nationwide logistics company in a multi-fatality accident filed in Las Vegas, Nevada
• Represented a wireline service company in North Africa against an international oil & gas company seeking to enforce it’s license agreement related to downhole products. Although we began the lawsuit as the defendant, we were able assert a number of counterclaims which ultimately allowed our client to negotiate a confidential settlement resolving the matter prior to trial
• Represented a joint venture mixed-use development in a construction dispute related to a 60-acre, mixed-use development in College Station, Texas. Successfully, navigating a number of insurance coverage related issues and securing a favorable recovery for the client related to alleged construct defects and work done during construction of the property

Employment Litigation

• Represented a former minority shareholder against a Texas Utility Company seeking to enforce a non- compete agreement
• Represented the former president and general manager of a nationwide construction company who brought suit against the client seeking to enforce a series of employment agreements containing non- competition clauses. We successfully defeated the company’s request for a Temporary Injunction and were later able to obtain a declaratory judgment that there was no enforceable noncompete agreement in place between the parties (including an award of over $75,000 in attorney’s fees to the client). 
• Successfully defended an international oil and gas services company in a lawsuit brought by two former employees who claimed the company had not followed proper company employment procedures in terminating the employees
• Successfully defended employees in a dispute involving complaints of trade secret, covenant not to compete, and tortuous interference of completion tools for oil and gas wells
• Successfully defended two employees in the oil and gas industry in a preliminary injunction hearing in Federal Court in the Southern District of Texas when former employer sought to enforce noncompete agreements
• Obtained a final summary judgment for a litigation support company and one of its employees in a breach of contract and tortuous interference case brought by the employee’s former employer who sought to enforce a noncompete and nonsolicitation agreement against our clients

Intellectual Property Litigation

• Won a Louisiana Arbitration proceeding against a manufacturing company related to breach of contract and trade dress infringement issues (including recovery of our client’s attorney’s fees)
• Successfully represented a custom lighting manufacturer in a lawsuit seeking to invalidate our client’s trademarks and involving a dispute related to website domains and marketing materials utilizing our client’s intellectual property--the suit was successfully resolved in our client’s favor and our client was given ownership of the disputed website domains containing their trademarks
• Represented a Louisiana manufacturing company sued for trademark and trade infringement, trademark dilution under the Lanham Act and copyright infringement under the United States Copyright Act--we obtained a dismissal from the case and successfully recovered our attorney’s fees from another defendant in the case
• Successfully represented an oil & gas service company in Aberdeen, Scotland, serving the subsea and downhole environments against a trade secret and IP litigation matter brought in Texas alleging, among other things, that patents were “modifications or improvements” of the plaintiff’s IP in a suit seeking more than $175,000,000 in damages.  The claims were adjudicated to find our clients’ patented IP were not “modifications or improvements” and completely denying plaintiff’s claims

Securities Litigation

• Successfully handled securities litigation action against international energy company including deposing the chief executives of the company and obtaining settlement for client recovering 100% of total loss plus $380,000 attorney’s fees
• Successfully obtained a take nothing arbitration award against plaintiff who brought breach of contract action against our client, a company specializing in investment training for the stock index futures market