Douglas S. Griffith

Doug focuses his practice on commercial litigation, including claims involving theft of trade secrets, trademark infringement, breach of covenant not to compete, insurance coverage, lender liability, and professional malpractice.

Doug is admitted to practice before all state and federal courts in Texas.

Representative Experience

• Represented a company founder who alleged that he was forced out by his partners and defrauded into selling his equity stake at a low price. Within months of buying out the founder’s stake, his former partners sold the entire business for a substantial profit — including $30 million that should have been paid to the founder. After jury selection and just before opening statement, a satisfactory settlement was secured for the client.
• MM Steel, LP v. Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co., et al. Represented a start-up steel distributor in a federal antitrust suit against the nation’s largest steel distributors and manufacturers arising from the defendants’ efforts to prevent the entry of a new competitor in the Gulf Coast region. In one of the few per se antitrust cases to proceed to trial in decades, the firm secured a victory in a five-week jury trial on all claims and a verdict of $54 million, which was trebled to $156 million.
• Represented a major Indonesian palm oil conglomerate in a dispute with a Texas-based energy company alleging fiduciary, fraud, and other claims arising out of a failed venture to market biodiesel in the U.S. Our client faced counterclaim liability in the hundreds of millions based on allegations that it had breached an unwritten agreement to provide palm oil feedstock for marketing as biodiesel. The case settled favorably on the eve of trial, with no money being paid by our client.
• Assisted client in pre-suit investigation involving offshore drilling equipment failure by conducting detailed fact investigation and assessing its potential liability.
• Berge Helene v. GE Oil & Gas Assisted in $52 million breach of warranty and fraud case involving the performance of reciprocating gas compressors aboard an FPSO off the coast of Mauritania. The five-week bench trial in Houston federal court resulted in take-nothing judgment on behalf of GE Oil & Gas.
• Fulcrum Credit Partners v. Strategic Capital Resources Obtained $2 million judgment based on jury verdict in Austin federal court for breach of agreement to buy distressed bankruptcy claims.
• CenterPoint v. AEGIS, et. al. Obtained jury verdict for insurers’ failure to pay for pipeline directional drill accident under builders’ risk policies. The result was recognized as one of the “Top Texas Verdicts of 2011” by VerdictSearch.
• Fluor v. ArcelorMittal Point Lisas Successfully resolved arbitration over alleged amounts due for maintenance management services at a Trinidad steel plant.
• Veldekens v. GE Obtained dismissal of lender liability and theft claims relating to lender’s foreclosure on hospital.
• Aceves, et. al. v. Levi Strauss & Co., et. al. Obtained dismissal of claims by 1800 former workers in South Texas alleging injury from airborne particles.
• Assisted with representing a major hospital system in addressing disputes arising from the termination of its long-term affiliation with a premier medical school, including assisting in a successful defense against claims that its research and teaching activities violated certain restricted covenants and successfully representing the system in attempting to resolve the disposition of millions of dollars in disputed funds held by the parties.
• Swank v. Cunningham Obtained dismissal of legal malpractice and breach of fiduciary duty claims.
• Equatorial Tonopah v. Kvaerner U.S. Inc. Represented plaintiff mining company against worldwide engineering firm in post-trial supersedeas bond proceedings in trial and appellate court. The case resulted in one of the largest actual damages verdicts and settlements in Nevada history.
• Encore Bank v. TXU Successfully resolved trademark dispute over logos.
• Guardian Savings v. Guardian Life Insurance Company Successfully resolved trademark dispute over name.
• Cooper Industries v. Thomas A. Edison Co. Successfully resolved trademark dispute over world famous mark.
• Baker Hughes v. Weatherford, et. al. Successfully defended former employees accused of misusing confidential information and trade secrets.