Avery Sheppard, Margaret Bryant, and Jordan Parker secured a complete defense verdict for their client after a week-long jury trial in the 96^th Judicial District Court of Tarrant County, Texas. The plaintiffs alleged that construction activities undertaken by Ware Jackson’s client, a residential real estate developer, altered the flow of surface and subsurface water on their neighboring property. They sued for violations of the Texas Water Code, trespass, intentional nuisance, negligence, and gross negligence, and sought millions of dollars for alleged damage to structures, loss of property value, mental anguish, and punitive damages.  After a week-long trial, the jury returned a verdict in favor of Ware Jackson’s client, finding that the plaintiffs were 100% negligent and suffered no damages.

Ware Jackson recovered over six million dollars for a residential developer after construction of a wastewater treatment plant was delayed for over a year. Ware Jackson sued the general contractor and its surety in state court in Comal County, Texas, and the general contractor named four subcontractors as third-party defendants. Liability was heavily contested and the litigation required dozens of depositions, hundreds of thousands of pages of document production, and extensive dispositive briefing. Despite disputed insurance coverage and a liquidated damages provision that defendants argued limited recoverable damages to less than half a million dollars, Ware Jackson’s aggressive litigation strategy resulted in a recovery of $6.2 million that exceeded the total amount of the surety bond for the project. The Ware Jackson team included Dennis Barrow, Avery Sheppard, and Jordan Parker.

Ware Jackson partner Avery Sheppard will be presenting “Troubled Waters: Surface Water Trespass Claims Under The Texas Water Code” at the 39^th Annual Construction Law Conference in San Antonio, Texas on March 26, 2026. The Annual Construction Law Conference, sponsored by the Construction Law Foundation of Texas and the Construction Law Section of the State Bar of Texas, is a premier event in the construction law sector, tailored for construction lawyers and professionals from across the state. This year’s event will be hosted at the JW Marriott Hill Country Resort & Spa.

To learn more about the conference, click here.