Concentration

Civil appellate and related matters

Summary

In 2011, Texas Lawyer selected Ms. Kline as one of twenty “Winning Women” across Texas who “have achieved significant recent victories as well as displayed a track record of wins in which they prevailed in high-stakes cases.” Ms. Kline was chosen from more than 200 lawyers nominated for the honor.

With a deep background in commercial litigation, Ms. Kline principally practices civil appellate law. During more than 20 years of practice, Ms. Kline has handled appeals and mandamus actions throughout the Texas courts of appeals and in the Texas Supreme Court, as well as numerous United States Courts of Appeals and the Delaware, Alabama and Nevada Supreme Courts. She often guides trial lawyers regarding matters likely to arise on appeal, such as error preservation, dispositive motion practice and jury charges.

Ms. Kline is board certified in Civil Appellate Law and in 2009 served as chair of the Appellate Section of the Dallas Bar Association. She is a Life Patron Fellow of the Dallas Bar Foundation. She serves on the Advisory Board of the Center for Brain Health, University of Texas at Dallas. She is married and the mother of a teenage son.

Ms. Kline excels at making complex subjects understandable and organizing large amounts of complicated information into digestible and persuasive briefs. Ms. Kline’s appellate experience spans a wide swath of substantive legal subjects. She has worked extensively in consumer class actions and appeals from administrative decisions of environmental agencies. She has prepared appellate briefs addressing bankruptcy court decisions, business disputes, products liability issues, consumer transactions and employment matters. She also has handled appeals centering on statutory construction, intellectual property decisions and corporate governance. In addition, Ms. Kline has significant experience representing law firms and accounting firms in the defense of professional liability matters, both in the trial court and on appeal.

Representative Engagements

Federal Courts

• Environmental: Lead appellate counsel for national and statewide industry groups challenging Environmental Protection Agency disapprovals of Texas air permitting programs under the Clean Air Act. See State of Texas v. EPA, No. 10-60614, 2012 WL 3264558 (5th Cir. Aug. 13, 2012); Luminant Generation Co. v. EPA, No. 10-60934, 2012 WL 3065315 (5th Cir. July 30, 2012); BCCA Appeal Group v. EPA, No. 10-60459, 2012 WL 2299504 (5th Cir. June 15, 2012); Luminant Generation Co. v. EPA, 675 F.3d 915 (5th Cir. 2012).
• Bankruptcy: Lead appellate counsel on more than a dozen separate appellate matters arising from complex chapter 11 bankruptcy. See, e.g, In re ASARCO LLC, 420 B.R. 314 (S.D.Tex. 2009); In re ASARCO, 2009 WL 1392627 (S.D. Tex. May 15, 2009); In re ASARCO, 2009 WL 1321261 (S.D. Tex. May 12, 2009)
• Intellectual property: Halliburton Energy Services v. Weatherford Int’l, No. 3:10-CV-02595 in the Northern District of Texas (appellate counsel for team that won $35 million jury verdict for infringement of downhole drilling tool patent); Technology Patents LLC v. T-Mobile et al., No. 2011-158, 2012 WL 4903197 (Fed. Cir. Oct. 17, 2012) (affirming summary judgment for client in patent case); Ring Plus, Inc. v. Cingular Wireless Corp., 614 F.3d 1354 (Fed. Cir. 2010) (affirming summary judgment for client in patent case); Oracle Corp. v. Parallel Networks, LLC, 2010 WL 1709308 (Fed. Cir. April 28, 2010) (successful appeal from summary judgment of non-infringement); IEX Corp. v. Blue Pumpkin Software, Inc., 2005 WL 236572 (Fed. Cir. Feb 2. 2005) (successful appeal from summary judgment of non-infringement)
• Class actions: Weiner v. Snapple Beverage Corp., 2010 WL 3119452 (S.D.N.Y. August 5, 2010) (denying class certification in consumer action challenging beverage labeling)
• Arbitration: Bulko v. Morgan Stanley, 450 F.3d 622 (5th Cir. 2006) (successful appeal from order vacating favorable arbitration award)
• Business Disputes: True North Composites, LLC v. Trinity Indus., Inc., 2003 WL 21206154 (Fed. Cir. May 21, 2003) (involving breach of contract to manufacture railcars)
• Employment: Washington v. Atmos Energy Corp., 2007 WL 2493492 (5th Cir. Sept. 4, 2007) (appellee in case affirming dismissal of section 1983 claims)
• Antitrust: Taylor Publishing v. Jostens, Inc., 216 F.3d 465 (5th Cir. 2000) (affirming grant of JNOV for defendant)

State Courts

• Environmental: FPL Farming Ltd. v. Environmental Processing Systems LLC, 351 S.W.3d 306 (Tex. 2011) (amicus brief for Texas Oil and Gas Association regarding claim for trespass based on subsurface migration); Exxon Mobil Corp. v. Ford, No. 16, September Term 2012 in the Maryland Court of Appeals (amicus brief for U.S. Chamber of Commerce regarding damages issues in toxic tort case); Bonser-Lain v. TCEQ (amicus brief regarding public trust doctrine for Texas Association of Business in appeal from denial of petition for rulemaking)
• Professional Liability: Grant Thornton LLP v. Prospect High Income Fund, 314S.W.3d 913,(Tex. 2010) (rendering judgment for Grant Thornton, rejecting holder claims as issue of first impression, and clarifying limited scope of professional liability to non-clients); Sterling Trust Co. v. Adderley, 168 S.W.3d 835 (Tex. 2005) (prepared amicus brief for Texas Society of Certified Public Accountants in case involving interpretation of Texas Securities Act); Tara Capital Partners v. Deloitte & Touche, LLP, 2004 WL 1119947 (Tex. App. -- Dallas May 20, 2004) (affirming summary judgment for auditor)
• Business Disputes: City of Brownsville v. Golden Spread Coop, 192 S.W.3d 876 (Tex. App. -- Dallas 2006) (successful appeal in contract dispute between co-owners of electrical generating plant); James L. Gang & Assoc. v. Abbott Labs, Inc., 198 S.W.3d 434 (Tex. App. -- Dallas 2006) (affirming summary judgment on claims for breach of contract and fraud); Panda Energy Corp. v. Allstate Ins. Co., 91 S.W.3d 29 (Tex. App. -- Dallas 2002) (relating to anti-suit injunction); Shell Oil Prods Co. v. Main Street Ventures LLC, 90 S.W.3d 375 (Tex. App. -- Dallas 2002) (successful appeal from adverse jury verdict in case alleging breach of contract and fraud)
• Property Disputes: Marcus Cable Associates, L.P. v. Krohn, 90 S.W.3d 697 (Tex. 2002) (relating to scope of utility easement)
• Torts: Plunkett v. Connecticut Gen. Life Ins., 285 S.W.3d 106 (Tex. App. -- Dallas 2009, pet. denied) (affirming summary judgment for defendant on claims arising from alleged mold contamination)
• Bankruptcy: Browning v. Prostok, 165 S.W.3d 336 (Tex. 2005) (reversing and rendering judgment for former officers and directors of National Gypsum Company on ground that suit was collateral attack on confirmation order)
• Fraudulent Transfer: Ausimont USA, Inc. v. Environmental Materials Corp, 2006 WL 1476897 (N.J. Super. Ct. App. Div. May 31, 2006) (affirming judgment for defendant following bench trial)
• Jurisdiction: CNOOC Southeast Asia LTD v. Paladin Resources (Sunda) Limited, 222 S.W.3d 889 (Tex. App. -- Dallas April 24, 2007) (successful appellee in case affirming exercise of jurisdiction over Chinese oil company)
• Employment: W.R. Grace & Co. v. Taylor, 2007 WL 1438544 (Tex. App. -- Houston May 17, 2007) (affirming denial of temporary injunction on ground that covenant not to compete was unenforceable); Strickland v. Medtronic, Inc., 97 S.W.3d 835 (Tex. App. -- Dallas 2003) (reversing judgment based on unenforceable covenant not to compete)
• Residential Construction Warranties: Centex Homes v. Buecher, 95 S.W.3d 266 (Tex. 2002) (clarifying implied warranties in residential construction)

Publications, Speeches and Presentations

Speeches and Presentations

• Eastern District of Texas Bench Bar Conference, “It’s Only Words, But Words Are All We Have,” co-panelist with Chief Judge Carl Stewart, Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals; Judge William Bryson, Federal Circuit Court of Appeals; and Judge Rodney Gilstrap, District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, October 2012
• University of Texas Conference on State and Federal Appeals, moderator for Fifth Circuit panel with Judges Owen and Elrod, June 2012
• “Finding the One Thing that Wins the Appeal,” Dallas Bar Association Appellate Section, participant in panel discussion with Professor William V. Dorsaneo, III and attorney Brent Rosenthal, April 2012
• “Loose Ends: Winding Up Your Appeal,” State Bar of Texas, Civil Appellate Practice 101, Austin, September 1, 2010
• “Bankruptcy Appeals -- General Principles,” John C. Ford American Inn of Court, Dallas, Texas, March 9, 2010 (presented with Fifth Circuit Judge Catharina Haynes and U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Stacey Jernigan)
• “Bankruptcy Appeals - A Whole New World,” University of Texas Conference on State and Federal Appeals, Austin, June 2009
• “Traps in the FRAPs: Appellate Procedure for the IP Litigator,” Dallas Bar Association, Intellectual Property Law Section, Dallas, January 2007
• “Summary Judgments: Making Yours Stick On Appeal and Unsticking the Other Guy’s,” Dallas Bar Association, Appellate Law Section, Dallas, April 2005
• “Emotion and the Law,” Harvard Women’s Law Journal 2004 Conference, Cambridge, Massachusetts, March 2004
• “Multiparty Litigation Issues From Start to Finish,” Advanced Civil Trial Course, State Bar of Texas, Dallas, October 2003

Publications

• “An Introduction to Bankruptcy Appeals -- Jurisdiction, the Rules, and Threshold Concerns,” Appellate Issues, American Bar Association Judicial Division, Council of Appellate Lawyers (June 2010)
• “The Process: Internal Operating Procedures of the Texas Appellate Courts,” The Appellate Advocate, Special Ed., February 2005
• “Tough on Texas Lawyers,” Texas Lawyer, December 1999
• “Mixed Review on New Rule,” Texas Lawyer, September 1999
• “Motions to Disqualify Based on Conflicts of Interest: Identifying the Rules of the Game,” Saint Mary’s Law Journal, 1994
• “The Third Party: Liability Considerations,” Today’s CPA, July/August 1992