Energy Litigation

As a Texas-based litigation boutique, Yetter Coleman is laser-focused on the needs of the dynamic energy industry, and particularly on the disputes that keep the major players in the industry up at night in this hyper-competitive and constantly-evolving industry.

Energy clients trust us for two simple reasons.  First is the breadth and scope of our litigation experience. We have litigated issues related to just about any contract to which our energy clients might be a party – purchase and sale agreements, oil and gas leases, joint operating agreements, farmout agreements, midstream agreements, gas sales contracts, and trading agreements, just to name a few. We have litigated these issues in courtrooms across Texas and in nearly every other jurisdiction that matters in the energy industry: Oklahoma, New Mexico, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, North Dakota, and even California. And we have done so on behalf of both plaintiffs and defendants.

Second is our trial experience. We try big cases. Trial is the last resort when it comes to our clients’ disputes, but our strategy for every dispute assumes a trial may be necessary. We plan so that we’re fully prepared to pursue our clients’ interests in the courtroom. And we’ve done it over and over again. Just in the last few years, we’ve tried a $160 million royalty class action in Oklahoma, a $300 million royalty class action in Arkansas, and a $2 billion participation agreement dispute in west Texas. We’ve been on the verge of trying many more that ended short of trial through our strategic and successful motion practice. For example, we represent a producer in a west Texas case in which co-working interest owners sued for $1 billion in connection with a purchase and sale of a package of oil and gas leases. Through a series of strategic motions in the weeks prior to trial, we convinced the trial court to exclude the plaintiffs’ damages expert and to grant our clients’ motions for summary judgment. These rulings resulted in a complete dismissal of the claims and a $5 million award of attorneys’ fees for our client (this case is on appeal).

By combining our group’s trial skills with our deep knowledge of the energy industry and the disputes its participants routinely face, we are able to take complex legal and technical concepts and distill them into compelling, persuasive narratives that win cases. And at the end of the day, our clients know that when they hire us, they will be represented by experienced, creative, battle-tested trial lawyers, and our opponents know that as well. We’re one of only two litigation boutiques in the country to be selected by Chambers & Partners for inclusion in its Nationwide Oil and Gas ranking.  Chambers & Partners has also included two of our partners on its short list of nationally ranked oil and gas litigators. We’ve gained this reputation through relentless pursuit of our energy clients’ interests.

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