| Ware Jackson Lee & Chambers obtained dismissal for lack of personal jurisdiction of a claim in excess of one billion dollars brought against a Caribbean conglomerate and businessman. The Appellate Court affirmed. |
| In 2007-2008, one of the largest conglomerates in the Caribbean, CL Financial and its Chairman, Lawrence Duprey, hired our partners, Jeffrey W. Chambers, Timothy F. Lee and Dennis Barrow to defend a claim in excess of one billion dollars filed by two Canadian citizens, a Canadian company, and a Texas company. The Canadian plaintiffs asserted claims for breach of contract, fraud and intentional interference with contract. CL Financial and Lawrence Duprey filed a motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction. The trial court, Judge Tracy Christopher presiding, dismissed for lack of personal jurisdiction over the $1,000,000,000 claims against CL Financial and Lawrence Duprey. On appeal, Ware Jackson Lee & Chambers obtained a precedent setting opinion affirming the dismissal. Greenfield Energy Inc., et al. v. Lawrence Duprey and CL Financial, 252 S.W.3d 721 (Tex.App.-Houston [14 Dist.] 2008, no writ.) |
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| Ware Jackson Lee & Chambers partner Jeffrey W. Chambers obtained a $35 million class action settlement as court-appointed co-lead counsel in an antitrust action. Plaintiffs netted $24,000,000, and counsel received $10.5 million in fees and expenses. |
The case was an antitrust action that Jeffrey W. Chambers brought in Johnson County, Texas, and Judge Wayne Bridwell presided over the class certification hearing. The defendants' attorney was Estelle Vance of Cantey & Hanger in Fort Worth, Texas.
Following the criminal indictment and conviction of a high-ranking employee of Mrs. Baird's Bread, Inc. ("Baird's") on antitrust charges, Chambers filed the first civil action alleging civil liability for a ten year conspiracy to fix the price of bread and bread products in Texas.
After a four day evidentiary hearing, the court certified a state court class action against defendants. Thereafter, Defendants filed an interlocutory appeal of the trial court's certification order.
After full briefing and hearing, the Waco Court of Appeals upheld the class certification order and remanded the case for further proceedings. Almost immediately, Baird's filed bankruptcy, listing the Plaintiffs' class as its largest creditor.
When Chambers developed and presented a plan to sell the company to pay the alleged debt and began shopping for buyers to submit a plan of reorganization imposing a court mandated sale, Baird's suddenly found the money to resolve the case. Baird's paid $18 million. A Dallas newspaper quoted Chambers saying, "about what the company could pay and remain a going concern." Other settlements followed with the remaining defendants totaling $34 million.
Plaintiffs' counsel as a group received fees and expenses of $10.5 million. The remaining $24,500,000 was distributed among the class members, including the named Plaintiffs and various school districts.
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| Ware Jackson Lee & Chambers' partner Don Jackson obtained as lead counsel a $26,000,000 settlement on behalf of two burn victims from a gas explosion. |
The case was a claim for negligence, product defect and gross negligence. It involved a gas explosion that severely burned the two plaintiffs over most of their bodies. The defendants, after lengthy discovery and depositions, decided to settle the claim rather than taking it to trial.
Plaintiffs received $15,300,000 net, after deduction of attorneys' fees and expenses. Counsel received $10.7 million in fees and expenses.
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| Ware Jackson Lee & Chambers' partner Jeffrey W. Chambers settled a securities fraud case for $22,000,000. |
| Our partner, Jeffrey W. Chambers, represented six corporate purchasers of junk bonds who purchased the bonds in a private placement offering. The purchasers were sophisticated investment professionals who were nevertheless defrauded in the offering. Chambers brought claims against the underwriter of the offering given that the corporate offeror was bankrupt at the time of the lawsuit. After deposing all of the corporate officers involved in preparing the investment materials, as well as the underwriters' employees who were involved, defendants elected to settle. Chambers negotiated a settlement of $22 million of which the clients received $18,000,000. Attorneys' fees and expenses totaled $4,000,000, plus $1,500,000 in hourly fees paid during the pendency of the case. |
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| Ware Jackson Lee & Chambers' attorney Jeffrey W. Chambers obtained a $17,400,000 settlement in a trucking accident case. The clients ultimately netted $10,200,000, and the co-lead lawyers shared $7.2 million in fees and expenses. |
In this trucking case, Chambers filed claims of negligence, negligent hiring, wrongful death, gross negligence, survival, bystander recovery, negligence per se, respondeat superior and punitive damages. Jeffrey W. Chambers represented Gwen Meister, Danny Meister, Charlotte Pauline Meister, Alton Ray Meister, Charles Meister and Estell Meister. Defendants' attorneys were J. W. Payne of Payne & Blanchard in Dallas, Texas and Patrick F. Madden of McCauley, MacDonald, Devin & Huddleston in Dallas, Texas.
Defendant John Harvey Wilson Jr. lost control of the Smithway 18-wheeler he was driving on March 28, 2000. He swerved across the median of Highway 80 in Mesquite and hit a 1998 Windstar van driven by Charles Herbert "Herb" Meister, then struck a pickup driven by Susan Clay. The tractor-trailer ended up going through the windshield of Clay's pickup and shaving off its roof, coming to rest jack-knifed on top of it in the ditch. Highway 80 was under construction at the time of the accident.
Clay died in the accident, and Alton Ray Meister died several weeks later from his injuries.
Gwen Meister, Meister's wife, was a front-seat passenger in the van. The Meisters were on their way to a movie at the time of the accident. All three were seriously injured and taken by EMS to the emergency room.
Depositions of witnesses in this lawsuit demonstrated that the trucking company, Smithway, hired Wilson despite a known history of safety violations. The company then failed to enforce its own safety rules and personnel policies. Smithway hired and retained Wilson in spite of the fact that he had habitually violated federal motor carrier regulations regarding driving times for over the road truckers. Wilson had been fired from his previous job for violations in his federally required driving log. Wilson asserted his Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination when asked about the false entries in his log.
Chambers showed that the trucking company ignored satellite tracking data that demonstrated Wilson was violating the law.
The Texas Lawyer quoted Chambers: "When you have data that clearly indicate that your driver is violating safety regulations that are intended to prevent death, you should use that information to make sure your employees follow the law. It's just common sense, and it ought to be required by law. This accident never should have happened." |
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| Ware Jackson Lee & Chambers received a complete defense verdict on a $9.5 million claim brought against our clients who were partners in a commodity trading and distribution partnership. |
| At trial, our partners, Jeffrey W. Chambers, Eileen F. O'Neill and T. Champe Fitzhugh, represented Southern Chemical Corporation and its individual partners in a claim brought against them by former partner, Tommy Cox. Cox brought claims against our clients, including fraud, breach of contract and tortious interference with contract. Cox sought over $9.5 million in actual and punitive damages against his former partners in this partnership dispute. After a full jury trial, Cox was awarded nothing by the jury or Court. Not satisfied, Cox appealed and a Ware Jackson Lee & Chambers appellate specialist, Tim Lee, won an appeal that upheld the jury's verdict and trial court judgment that Cox would recover nothing by his claims against our clients. The appellate decision is Cox v. Southern Garrett, LLC, 45 S.W.3d 574 (Tex.App.-Houston [1st Dist.], 2007). |
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| Ware Jackson Lee & Chambers obtained a $9.25 million settlement on behalf of a large construction company. |
| Our partners, Don Jackson, Jeffrey W. Chambers and Dennis Barrow, represented a large multi-national construction company in a federal court lawsuit resulting from the failure of a general contractor to pay our client for construction services performed on an offshore rig. The case involved complex construction issues and review of tens of thousands of pages of documents. During the course of the litigation, over twenty fact witnesses were deposed. Our lawyers also worked with and prepared construction industry experts and our own clients for deposition. As a result, the Defendant paid our client $9.25 million in settlement, rather than proceeding to trial. The client received the full settlement payment. |
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| Ware Jackson Lee & Chambers obtained a $9.25 million settlement of a personal injury claim. Plaintiffs received $5,250,000 net, after the deduction of attorneys' fees and expenses. |
Ware Jackson Lee & Chambers partners Jeffrey Chambers and Dennis Barrow represented a Texas family following the tragic death of a baby and severe injury to the hip and leg of the wife following a collision with a delivery truck. When Ware Jackson Lee & Chambers were hired, the case had been pending for almost two years, yet no depositions had been taken. Plaintiffs replaced their former lawyers with WJLC partners, Chambers and Barrow.
Chambers and Barrow handled the case for nine months, collecting thousands of pages of documents, taking ten company depositions, and developing the expert case regarding the millions in past and future medical damages at issue. Liability in the case was clear, and Plaintiffs made a compelling case for punitive damages as well as demonstrating millions in life care damages. Plaintiffs settled for $9.25 million of which Plaintiffs received $5,250,000 after deduction of $4 million in attorneys' fees and expenses. |
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| Ware Jackson Lee & Chambers partner Jeffrey W. Chambers won a $8,500,000 libel verdict against a lawyer and law firm for litigating in the newspaper. Plaintiff, E. Pierce Marshall, agreed to settle the verdict for the $800,000 remainder of a $1,000,000 policy limit of insurance carried by the defendant lawyer and firm. |
The jury returned a verdict of $8.5 million in favor of reported billionaire, E. Pierce Marshall on his claim of slander against Diana Marshall. The trial was held in the 191st Judicial District Court of Dallas County, Texas, and Judge David K. Brooks presided. At trial, Chambers faced legendary Dallas defense lawyer, Jim Cowles of Cowles & Thompson.
The claims in this case stemmed from a lawsuit in which attorney Diana Marshall represented Anna Nicole Smith, a former Playboy playmate and Guess Jeans model. In that lawsuit, Smith sought one-half of oil man J. Howard Marshall's earnings during their 14-month marriage. According to defendants, ninety-year-old J. Howard Marshall's estate was estimated at between $300-$700 million at the time of his death in August, 1995. After J. Howard Marshall's demise, his son, E. Pierce Marshall, brought allegations against Ms. Smith's attorneys contending they had libeled and slandered him.
The libel and slander claim arose from an article in the Houston Chronicle dated August 19, 1995 which had allegations by the defendant with regard to pending litigation. The article said that a blizzard of documents were presented to J. Howard Marshall two weeks after his marriage to Anna Nicole Smith and that J. Howard Marshall's signature on one document, which gave the plaintiff power of attorney over the estate, was almost illegible, and stating that he could not read them, suggesting that an inability to read caused him to sign a paper he did not understand. Defendant, Diana Marshall, denied plaintiffs's allegations claiming the attorney litigation privilege with regard to libel and slander cases.
Jim Cowles, as counsel for defendant, Diana Marshall, refused to make any settlement offer before or during trial. Shortly after the jury's $8.5 million verdict, E. Pierce Marshall agreed to accept $800,000, the remainder of a diminishing $1,000,000 insurance policy held by defendant lawyer, Diana Marshall and her law firm. |
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| Ware Jackson Lee & Chambers defeated a $7,000,000 claim brought against our client by Haverford College. |
| Our partners, Don Jackson, Lee Ware and Jeffrey Chambers, represented the estate of a wealthy and prominent Texan when Haverford College sued the estate to collect on alleged pledges and promises by the deceased to provide money to Haverford. The college's evidence included signed pledges. Our evidence included an extensive file that the college kept on our client, including our client's drinking habits, and communicating other intimate details about our client's personal life. In the end, despite the college's evidence of pledges, we received a verdict from the jury that defeated Haverford's claims in their entirety. Haverford received not one penny of the money that the college sought to collect. |
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| Ware Jackson Lee & Chambers obtained a $6,000,000 arbitration award on behalf of a construction company client. The Defendant ultimately paid the full $6,000,000 arbitration award without deduction. |
| Ware Jackson Lee & Chambers attorneys, Don Jackson, Jeffrey W. Chambers and Dennis Barrow, represented a large, multi-national construction company in an arbitration proceeding against a general contractor who refused to pay for work. The general contractor also sued our client for $5,000,000 in damages. After numerous depositions of fact and expert witnesses, the parties tried the claims in arbitration. Both parties refused to settle, and an arbitration award resulted. In the arbitrator's award, our client received their $6,000,000 plus arbitration claim in the award - down to the last penny. The Defendant received nothing on its $5,000,000 claim. Our client collected every penny of the $6,000,000 arbitration award. |
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| Jeffrey W. Chambers, as co-counsel, obtained a trial verdict of $5,200,000 in a trial concerning an oil and gas partnership. |
Our partner, Jeffrey W. Chambers, obtained as trial co-counsel, a verdict of $5,200,000 on behalf of two partners in a partnership to sell oil and gas equipment. Chambers was second chair at trial.
When credit dried up in the oil field, these partners got the wealthy owner of an oil and gas equipment company to partner in development wells by contributing equipment, rather than cash. Chambers' clients were supposed to receive ten percent of all profits from the wells for completely organizing the deal. Their partner, who made more than a $50 million profit, decided to keep all of it. Our clients sued for breach of contract. |
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| The jury awarded $5.2 million of which our clients received $3,000,000, and fees and expenses were $2,200,000. |
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| Ware Jackson Lee & Chambers partner Dennis Barrow represented our client in an ICC arbitration and helped the client secure a $3,900,000 reduction in money owed to a subcontractor. |
Our partner, Dennis Barrow represented an international joint venture entity in an ICC arbitration proceeding.
The dispute arose from a construction subcontract for a portion of the work on two offshore oil and gas platforms. The client served as the general contractor for the two platforms and subcontracted a portion of the work to the defendant. Our client asserted that the defendant breached the subcontract and reduced the value of the subcontract by $3,900,000. The reduction in the subcontract value resulted in an equivalent reduction in what our client paid its subcontractor. The arbitration claim sought approval of the reduction in the value of the subcontract and additional unliquidated damages. The defendant denied the claims and asserted a counterclaim, seeking in excess of $800,000 in liquidated damages and an unliquidated claim for damages based on the assertions that the subcontract value was improperly reduced. The defendant generally described the unliquidated claims for damages as exceeding $3.6 million. The case was settled prior to the arbitration hearing without the payment of money by either party. This resolution allowed the client to retain the $3.9 million in reduced subcontract payments and avoided payment of the alleged liquidated and unliquidated counterclaims. |
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| Ware Jackson Lee & Chambers partner Jeffrey W. Chambers obtained$3.25 million for a client in a complex legal malpractice claim. The client received a net payment of $1,850,000, after deduction of $1,355,000 for fees and expenses. |
| The client was a prominent Texan. After the client's relative died, the client was convinced by lawyers to disclaim his interest in real property left to the client under the deceased relative's will, so that the property would pass to another relative. The lawyers were supposed to be working exclusively for Chambers' client, but evidence showed that they were influenced by the beneficiary of the disclaimer. As a result of numerous depositions and evidence gathered against the lawyers, the two firms involved in the proposed disclaimer transaction paid a total of $3.25 million. |
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| Ware Jackson Lee & Chambers partner Jeffrey W. Chambers obtained a $2,600,000 settlement in a premises liability case. The client received $1,460,000, after deduction of $1,140,000 in attorneys' fees and expenses. |
| Our partner Jeffrey W. Chambers filed this case on behalf of a security guard who was shot while on duty at an apartment complex. The complex was in a high-crime area and was completely gated, but the gates were broken and had been for some time. A criminal came onto the premises in a car, parked next to the security guard, and shot him without provocation. Chambers' client was rendered a paraplegic. After taking depositions and obtaining public records that proved the dangers posed by the broken gates, Chambers was able to obtain a settlement of $2,600,000 for the client, of which the client received $1,460,000. The attorneys' fees and expenses totaled $1,140,000. |
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| Ware Jackson Lee & Chambers partner Jeffrey W. Chambers obtained a $2,065,000 settlement for a leg injury resulting from nursing staff negligence. |
| Our partner Jeffrey W. Chambers obtained a settlement of $2,065,000 on behalf of a woman who suffered a serious injury to her leg following leg surgery. As Chambers' client was recovering in the hospital, she developed a compartment syndrome in her leg that caused a complete loss of circulation. Later, the compartment syndrome was relieved by surgery, but much of the dead leg tissue required debridement. After Chambers took depositions demonstrating the nursing staff medical malpractice. Defendants chose to settle the case prior to trial for $2,065,000 of which the client received $1,052,000 and attorneys' fees and expenses totaled $1,013,000. |
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| Ware Jackson Lee & Chambers partner Jeffrey W. Chambers obtained a $2 million wrongful death verdict on behalf of the son of murdered parents. |
| A 28 year old man drove to his elderly parents' house one day and shot them both with a shotgun. He was never convicted of murder because he was too mentally ill to stand trial. The murderer's parents had a $1.5 million policy of insurance. They also had one other surviving child. Because there was never a criminal conviction, the murderer stood to inherit $750,000. Chambers was hired by the innocent sibling and brought suit. After a guardian was appointed to represent the murderer's interests, Chambers tried the case to a $2,000,000 verdict and judgment. There was no appeal. Chambers' client received $1,000,000 and attorneys' fees and expenses were $500,000. |
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| Ware Jackson Lee & Chambers partner Jeffrey W. Chambers obtained $1,900,000 for a child who was the victim of daycare negligence. The child received $1,100,000 and attorneys' fees and expenses were $800,000. |
| In an overcrowded private daycare center, a 5 year old child was playing on a ladder attached to playground equipment. The child fell and was left hanging upside down for long enough to cause nerve damage in his spine. As a result, he suffered a permanent drop foot on his left side. After establishing that the daycare center's practices failed to meet established proper student-to-teacher ratios, Chambers was able to negotiate a settlement of $1,900,000. |
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| Ware Jackson Lee & Chambers partner Jeffrey W. Chambers obtained a $1,500,000 settlement in a wrongful death case on behalf of the estate of an 82 year old man. |
| An 82 year old man was in his home when it exploded. The day before, a local propane company's employee had filled the propane tank and left a valve in an incorrect position. The propane migrated into the home until it contacted an ignition source, probably the water heater's pilot light. Chambers' client suffered serious burns and died within hours. Reconstructing the accident was difficult as the house and propane tank were completely destroyed. After taking the deposition of the propane company employee who filled the tank, the case settled for $1,500,000 of which the estate received $900,000, after deduction of $600,000 in attorneys' fees and expenses. |
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| Ware Jackson Lee & Chambers partner Jeffrey W. Chambers obtained a $750,000 verdict for a client with a single level operated disc herniation. The defendant agreed to pay the verdict before the jury decided the punitive damages phase. The client received $420,000, and attorneys' fees and expenses totaled $330,000. |
| Our partner, Jeffrey W. Chambers obtained a $750,000 jury verdict for a client who sustained a single level herniated disc as the result of a fall from scaffolding. Chambers alleged negligent premises control by the store on whose premises the accident occurred because the store manager ordered Chambers' client to attempt a repair with portable scaffolding on rollers, rather than waiting for appropriate scaffolding to arrive. The jury awarded all of the actual damages that Chambers asked for, and the defendant elected to settle prior to the jury deciding on an amount of punitive damages, given that the jury had already found defendant acted with gross negligence. |
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| Ware Jackson Lee & Chambers partner Dennis Barrow defended a potentially catastrophic uninsured claim and obtained a settlement at a small portion of the plaintiff's claimed damages. |
| Our partner, Dennis Barrow represented an individual in a suit related to the sale of a business. The plaintiff sued several defendants and asserted claims of fraud, violations of the Texas DTPA, conversion, unjust enrichment/quantum merit, entitlement to punitive damages and treble damages. The claims were not covered by insurance and presented a potentially catastrophic financial burden for our client in the event of an adverse verdict. Prior to trial, the court granted final judgment against the other defendants in the suit and awarded $224,000 in actual damages, treble damages, and attorneys' fees for trial, plus $10,000 in attorneys' fees for each level of appeal, and judgment interest. We proceeded to trial representing the sole defendant and obtained a significantly reduced verdict compared to the judgment against the other defendants. The case was settled for the estimated amount of judgment and costs, $10,300. |
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| Notable Appeals |
Our partner, Tim Lee, is a board certified appellate specialist who has handled nearly 90 appeals in his 25 years of practice.
One of the ways to quantify the significance of the result of a case on appeal is to determine how many times the opinion has been cited by other appellate courts and legal writers. At the time this material was written, the Pavlides decision had been cited 252 times; the Jampole decision, 702 times; the Spoljaric decision had been cited in 1130 instances; the two Texas Supreme Court decisions in Alm, 970 times; the Mitchell opinion, 283 times; the Tanglewood East decision, 1007 times; and the Haight decision, 114 times. The citation figures used herein were taken from Westlaw, a computerized legal database.
The following are some of Tim Lee's wins, which have resulted in opinions published in the official reporters: |
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| As second chair, Tim Lee represented the plaintiff in a Death on the High Seas Act case, in which the appellate court reversed a take-nothing judgment by the trial court. The appeals court's decision clarified some important issues of product's liability law and the case was ultimately settled after retrial. See Pavlides v. Galveston Yacht Basin, Inc., 727 F.2d 330 (5th Cir. 1984). |
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| In one of the most important Texas decisions on the scope of discovery, Tim Lee, as second chair, represented the relator in Jampole v. Touche, 673 S.W.2d 569 (Tex. 1984, orig. proceeding). In the end, the discovery in question was finally obtained, and the case settled without trial. |
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| Spoljaric v. Percival Tours, Inc., 708 S.W.2d 432 (Tex. 1986), an opinion which is still routinely cited in fraud litigation, Tim Lee represented the plaintiff who had lost a commercial fraud case in the court of appeals. The Texas Supreme Court reversed the court of appeals, reinstated Spoljaric's case and remanded it to the trial court, where it was lost by trial counsel. |
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| Tim Lee, as second chair, represented the plaintiff in an epic six year appeal which resulted in a verdict of over $1 million being upheld. See Alm v. Aluminum Co. of America, 687 S.W.2d 374 (Tex.App.-Houston [14th Dist.] 1985), rev'd & remanded, 717 S.W.2d 588 (Tex. 1986), on remand, 753 S.W.2d 478 (Tex.App.-Houston [14th Dist.] 1988), rev'd & rendered, 785 S.W.2d 137 (Tex. 1990), cert. denied, 111 S.Ct. 135 (1990). The various opinions in the Alm litigation settled several points of failure to warn law. |
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| The opinion in Mitchell v. Missouri - Kansas - Texas R.R., 743 S.W.2d 666 (Tex.App.-Houston [1st Dist.] 1987), rev'd & remanded, 786 S.W.2d 659 (Tex.), cert. denied, 111 S.Ct. 247 (1990), established for 12 years how a jury should be charged in an ordinary FELA case in Texas until it was overruled. Tim Lee, as second chair, represented plaintiff and successfully obtained a new trial and trial counsel had lost the case. The Mitchell case itself was settled after being remanded to the trial court. |
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| Tim Lee represented the mother of a murder victim in this appeal of a negligent security case which was won by the defense in the trial court. The court of appeals reversed that decision, and the case settled when it was remanded to the trial court. See Haight v. Savoy Apartments, 814 S.W.2d 849 (Tex.App.-Houston [1st Dist.] 1991, writ denied). |
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| In this example of a punitive damage award upheld by the appellate court, Tim Lee represented the plaintiff. After the appeals process was complete, the judgment was collected from the defendant. See Strahan v. Davis, 872 S.W.2d 828 (Tex.App.-Waco 1994, writ denied). |
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| In In re Gus Andrews, 955 S.W.2d 178 (Tex.App.-Waco 1997, no writ), Tim Lee represented the petitioner in an arrest record expunction case and kept his expunction alive despite a fatally flawed trial court order. The trial court did it right the second time, and Andrews's record was expunged. |
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| In 1998, Tim Lee represented the parents of two drowned children who obtained a rare Tort Claims Act judgment of significant size. The parents ultimately collected their award from the state. See Texas Department of Transportation v. Abilez, 962 S.W.2d 246 (Tex.App.-Waco 1998, pet. denied). |
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| Tim Lee represented Remington Arms in Remington Arms Company, Inc. v. Luna, 966 S.W.2d 641 (Tex.App.-San Antonio 1998, pet. denied), in this class action involving nearly 400,000 potential plaintiffs. The class was decertified on appeal, and the case was eventually dismissed without payment by Remington Arms. |
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| In this contribution to the noble line of Texas equine jurisprudence, Tim Lee represented the plaintiff in the first "spooked horse" case in more than 80 years. The case was settled after the court of appeals affirmed McNeely's judgment. See Chavez Construction Co. v. McNeely, 177 S.W.3d 593 (Tex.App.-Houston [1st Dist.] 2005, pet. granted, rev'd in aid of settlement). |
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