Ware Jackson attorneys successfully represented the primary defendant in a federal lawsuit stemming from a well blowout in the Gulf of Mexico.  The plaintiffs alleged that Ware Jackson’s client, Axon, manufactured a defective blowout preventer.  The plaintiffs claimed the BOP was defective and failed to contain the blowout and sought over $70 million in damages.  Ware Jackson partners Dennis Barrow, Tyler Henkel, and Margaret Bryant, as well as associate Avery Sheppard, defended Axon from a potential catastrophic judgment.

Defending the case required an in-depth understanding of offshore oil and gas operations, including well control procedures and the mechanics of blowout preventers.  The litigation involved extensive briefing, review of thousands of documents, dozens of depositions, and appearances in courts in Houston, Louisiana, and Delaware.  Ware Jackson’s attorneys developed evidence demonstrating that Axon’s blowout preventer was not defective.

Ware Jackson’s work paid off when Judge Kenneth M. Hoyt granted Axon’s motions for summary judgment and dismissed all the plaintiffs’ claims.  Judge Hoyt also agreed with Ware Jackson that both the owner and the driller of the well had to indemnify Axon for its attorneys’ fees and expenses.  Axon received an award of $5,494,132.67 in fees and expenses.

Ware Jackson’s client was the only defendant to avoid years of entanglement and payouts in the massive multidistrict litigation over the explosion, deaths and ecological disaster created when BP’s Gulf of Mexico Macondo well exploded.

Partners Don Jackson and Dennis Barrow represented Dril-Quip in investigations by the U.S. Coast Guard, the Chemical Safety Board and Congress. The team was able to prove that Dril-Quip’s products were not the cause of the blowout.

One of two “failure mechanisms” originally blamed by the Coast Guard was the seal assembly of Dril-Quip’s wellhead. The firm’s defense focused on the path of the Macondo blowout, proving that the seal assembly did not fail and that Dril-Quip’s products were neither defective nor a cause of the blowout.

Eileen O’Neill served as co-trial counsel with Mr. Don Bowen of Helm, Pletcher, Bowen and Saunders and Mr. George Bramblet of Haynes and Boone, LLC, in the trial of a case brought by Exxon Corporation against Certain Underwriters at Lloyd’s of London to recover over $1 billion in insurance coverage for damages paid by Exxon as a result of Exxon Valdez grounding and oil spill in Prince William Sound outside Valdez, Alaska. A substantial part of the case was settled prior to trial pursuant to a confidential settlement agreement, and the rest of the case was tried to a jury which returned a verdict favorable in all respects to Exxon. The court entered judgment in favor of Exxon for a total of $410,345,119.72, comprised of actual damages of $238,473,752.50, pre-judgment interest of $151,106,406.87, and attorney fees and costs of $10,764,960.35, plus attorney fees for appeal in the amount of $1,500,000 in the event the case was appealed and Exxon prevailed. The parties mediated the judgment while appeal was pending and reached a favorable, confidential settlement.