2024: A Year in Review

Once again, we managed an active docket. After a multi-week bench trial, Jim Zucker led our team in achieving an across-the-board win for our government water agency client when the court rejected a private water utility’s monopolization and price-fixing claims seeking $500 million. Together with standout co-counsel, Paul Yetter, Matt Zorn, and Tyler Young secured pre- discovery dismissals by separate federal judges in a groundbreaking FTC civil action and related class action directed at a respected private equity firm for alleged anticompetitive conduct in the healthcare industry.

Our team secured a series of high stakes wins. Led by our appellate chair Connie Pfeiffer, we upheld our energy client’s $70 million judgment in Ohio, holding on to our trial team’s record- setting verdict for underground trespass. In a key victory for our government client, we convinced the Texas Supreme Court to grant review and uphold a waiver of government immunity that protects our client’s right to enforce 9-figure contracts. We also won affirmance on multiple grounds of the dismissal of a defamation case our trial team won for our hospital system client. Together with amazing co-counsel, Connie Pfeiffer, Reagan Simpson, and Grant Martinez helped win a crucial appeal for our software client, overturning a $1.7 billion judgment. And we convinced a state appeals court to dismiss claims by the State of Texas seeking billions in penalties against our technology client, finding no personal jurisdiction.

Texas bankruptcy courts remain a hotbed of complex litigation. Bryce Callahan, Susanna Allen, and Mollie Bracewell led our representation of a bankruptcy litigation trust against the debtor’s former CEO for fiduciary breaches arising out of a scheme to enrich himself at the expense of the company by secretly advancing his preferred bidder to obtain a lucrative personal investment. We achieved an early victory when we had the case remanded to state court, then defeated serial dispositive motions, and secured a favorable settlement before trial. Jamie Aycock is leading our team in pursuing significant claims for our clients in a notable energy reorganization.

As always, our work took us across the country. In two months of jury trial in Santa Barbara, Paul Yetter, Tim McConn, and Tracy LeRoy led our efforts for a liquidating trustee who sued over a pipeline rupture, spill, and shutdown, after our client’s predecessor could not transport oil to market and went bankrupt. We reached a $100 million settlement as we ended our client’s case-in-chief. Weeks later, we were in Fort Worth to help superb co-counsel win a $9 million jury verdict for our airline client against a search engine fronting as an approved travel agent of the airline. Justin Tschoepe led our team in recouping millions for investors in a recycling facility defrauded by the project founder. We also are representing a major retailer over the failed implementation of its online fraud detection system. As the year ended, Amy Farish began an ongoing Louisiana fiduciary duty trial with longtime co-counsel.

Contract disputes have been a core part of our practice for almost three decades. After a multi- week bench trial, we won a complete defense verdict for our oilfield services client against a multi-million-dollar lawsuit by a frac sand supplier alleging breach of contract and fraudulent inducement. As the fallout from 2021 Winter Storm Uri continues, Tracy LeRoy leads our team for an upcoming final hearing in an international arbitration addressing the impact of a force majeure assertion in a case of first impression. Justin Rowinsky won a bench trial for our nonprofit client in an unpaid fees dispute. In a bench trial pending final decision, we pursued our energy client’s significant claims for breach by its counterparty for natural gas sales.

Litigation for and against state entities is a growing practice area for us. Led by Grant Martinez and Justin Tschoepe, the firm represents an urban Texas county and its officials in multiple disputes over the constitutionality of programs to provide relief to the poor, which has sparked broad public interest and debate about the programs. We represent a county drainage district in a challenge to its power to enforce rules that prevent flooding. We are assisting a leading technology client in responding to civil investigative demands in states around the country. We submitted an amicus brief for a statewide religious conference in a Texas Supreme Court appeal testing whether the Texas Attorney General can shutter a nonprofit that cares for needy migrants on the border, raising vital issues of religious freedom.

Maintaining our momentum, we had a busy and varied IP docket. Led by new partner Natalie  Gonzales, together with excellent co-counsel, we secured a favorable settlement for our iconic technology client in a multi-patent suit in EDTX that accused four core products of infringement. She also served on the planning committees for the EDTX Bench Bar Conference and the ChIPs Global Summit. Also in EDTX, our IP team is defending our client against trade secret claims by a competing supplier of pet treats. Jeff Andrews, Matt Zorn, and Tyler Young led our representation of an oilfield services company to defeat patent claims by a competitor due to fraud on the Patent Office, pursue substantial Walker Process antitrust claims, and ultimately secure a substantial recovery just weeks before a jury trial was set to start.

Our Chambers-ranked national practice continues to thrive. Tim McConn and Robert Woods lead our public client’s pursuit of 9-figure claims for an operator’s failure to pay royalties based on market value. We protected the rights of a working-interest owner against an operator that schemed to let valuable leases expire so it could secure new ones. We are mounting a robust defense in a suit based on alleged trespass by our client’s drilling operations in New Mexico. On behalf of several gas suppliers, Bryce Callahan, Tracy LeRoy, Jim Zucker, and Dori Goldman led our teams in securing full defense victories in multi-district litigation alleging harm to the Texas energy grid. We helped our client defeat a West Virginia suit for “well bashing,” beating class certification, excluding plaintiff’s liability expert, and winning dismissal. And we are defending our client against 9-figure claims by a noted West Texas family for breach of a surface use contract and environmental harm.

Pro bono work is woven into the fabric of our firm. Reflecting its importance, and led by our pro bono practice leader, Amy Farish, we again had 100% pro bono participation among our associates. Relatedly, in year 14 of our litigation on behalf of Texas foster children, we are fighting a Fifth Circuit decision removing the long-time trial judge and rejecting a civil contempt finding against a state agency. Our work for vulnerable children will continue until the state system is safe. Consistent with the amicus brief we filed for a Houston women’s shelter, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld federal gun restrictions on those subject to domestic violence restraining orders. And we are seeking habeas relief for a death-row petitioner who wrongly was convicted when the State of Texas lost evidence, elicited false testimony, and misrepresented DNA proof.

As a firm, we were honored for our team’s skill and contributions to the profession. Chambers lists Yetter Coleman among the nation’s leading firms, ranking 11 of our attorneys in appellate, commercial, IP, oil and gas, and psychedelics litigation. The Best Law Firms guide includes 21 of our practice areas and names 31 team members as Best Lawyers or Ones to Watch. Texas Super Lawyers names 16 of our lawyers, two in the Texas Top 100 and five in the Houston Top 100. Reflecting our firm’s special culture, we were selected by Houston Business Journal as among the Best Places to Work in our first year in the survey. And we received the Beacon of Justice Award for impactful pro bono work from the National Legal Aid & Defender Association.

Individually, the Houston Association of Women Attorneys named Amy Farish as the Premier Women in Law Rising Star, and she received the Houston Young Lawyers Foundation Community Impact Award for co-chairing the collection of holiday gifts for 4000 underserved children. Chris Ward became board certified in appellate law. Paul Yetter was named Best Lawyers Houston Attorney of the Year for bet-the-company litigation, and David Gutierrez was selected as a Texas Young Lawyers Division delegate to the ABA annual meeting in Chicago.

We bolstered our IP litigation practice with the addition of partner Natalie Gonzales, a rising star trial lawyer who has handled complex disputes across the country. Two of our outstanding young litigators, Mollie Bracewell and Justin Rowinsky, were elevated to partner in recognition of their leadership and commitment to our clients. We grew our ranks with outstanding new team members: trial associates Francisco Escobar-Calderon, Jared LeBrun, and Shannon Smith and appellate counsel Dan Nightingale. And we welcomed back appellate associate Austin  Brumbaugh from a federal clerkship. Finally, we said a heartfelt thank you to Autry Ross, who retired after 27 years with the firm dedicating his formidable talents to our most difficult cases.