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Securities Class Actions
- Led defense of board of directors of Vectren Corporation in securities class action related to proposed transaction; the district court granted our motion to dismiss this month (In re Vectren Corp. Sec. Litg., 2019 WL 4243193, S.D. Ind. Sept. 6, 2019)
- Leading defense of former officers and directors of Warren Resources, Inc. in securities class action (pending) (Cartwright v. D’Alleva, 2018 WL 9343524, S.D.N.Y. Aug. 27, 2018)
- Led defense of Westar Energy, Inc. in connection with a succession of class and derivative lawsuits filed by shareholders under the federal securities laws and state fiduciary duty law (Reese v. Westar Energy, Inc., et al., Case No. 2:17-cv-02584 (D. Kan.); and Pill v. Westar Energy, Inc., et al., Civ. A. No. 5:17-cv-4086 (D. Kan.); In re Westar Energy, Inc. Stockholder Litig., Case No. 2016-000457 (Dist. Ct. Shawnee Cnty., Kan.))
- Defense of Helix Energy and its officers and directors in securities class action; the district court granted our motion to dismiss in February 2017, and no appeal was taken (Izadjoo v. Helix Energy Sol’ns Group, Inc., 237 F.Supp.3d 492 (S.D.Tex. 2017))
- Defense of Willbros Group and its officers and directors in securities class action (In re Willbros Group, Inc. Sec. Lit., 2016 WL 4920979, S.D. Tex. Sept. 15, 2016)
- Led defense of present and former CEOs of Warren Resources, Inc. in securities class action (David Speiser v. Epstein et al., No. 1:16-cv-2037-WJM-CBS (D. Colo.))
- Defense of Key Energy and its officers and directors in securities class action; the district court granted our motion to dismiss in April 2016, and no appeal was taken (In re Key Energy Svcs. Sec. Lit., 166 F.Supp.3d 822 (S.D. Tex. 2016))
- Defense of Cobalt International and its officers and directors in securities class action (In re Cobalt Int’l Energy, Inc. Sec. Lit., 2016 WL 215476, S.D. Tex. Jan. 19, 2016)
- Defense of McDermott International and its officers and directors in 10b-5 class action; the district court granted our motion to dismiss in March 2015, and no appeal was taken (Local 210 Unity Pension & Welfare Funds v. McDermott Int’l Inc., 2015 WL 1143081, S.D. Tex. Mar. 13, 2015)
- Defense of Perot Systems and its directors in a shareholder class action seeking to enjoin Perot Systems’ merger with Dell (Van Buiten v. Dell, Inc., et al., Case No. 4:13-cv-01585 (S.D. Tex. 2013)
Merger Class Actions
- Defense of TPC Group and certain of its directors in shareholder suits challenging TPC’s acquisition by two private equity firms (In re TPC Group Inc. S’holders Litig., 2014 WL 5500000, Del. Ch. Ct. Oct. 29, 2014)
- Defense of Frontier Oil and its directors in class actions challenging Frontier’s merger with Holly Corporation. Mr. David argued the case before the Fourteenth Court of Appeals (Kazman v. Frontier Oil Corp., 398 S.W.3d 377 (Tex. App.--Houston [14th Dist. 2013]), no pet.)
- Defense of Titanium Metals Corporation and its inside directors in litigation challenging its acquisition by Precision Castparts (In re Titanium Metals Corp. S’holders Lit., 2013 WL 5176406, Del. Ch. Ct. Aug. 13, 2013)
- Defense of NRG Energy, Inc. in shareholder suits challenging its merger with GenOn and a prior proposed acquisition of assets (In re GenOn Energy, Inc. S’holders Lit., C.A. No. 7721-VCN, Del. Ch. Ct.)
- Defense of Allis-Chalmers and its directors in class actions challenging Allis-Chalmers’ merger with Seawell (In re Allis-Chalmers Energy Inc. S’holders Litig., C.A. 5726-VCN, Del. Ch. Ct.)
- Representation of Titanium Metals and its directors in suit challenging sale to Precision Castparts Corp. (In re Titanium Metals Corp. S’holders Litig., C.A. 8029-CS, Del. Ch. Ct.)
- Defense of United Airlines in class action lawsuits challenging United’s merger with Continental (Witmer v. Continental Airlines, Inc., et al.; Case No. 2010-29044 (Harris Cty., Texas)
- Defense of directors of Landry's in class action case relating to CEO's offer to take the company private; case settled (La. Municipal Police E’ees’ Ret. Sys. v. Tilman J. Fertitta, et al., 2009 WL 2263406, Del. Ch. Ct. July 28, 2009)
- Defense of EGL, Inc. in class action and derivative litigation over the company’s proposed going private transaction and its ultimate acquisition by a private equity firm (Somers v. Crane, 295 S.W.3d 5 (Tex. App.--Houston [1st Dist. 2009], pet. denied))
- Defense of founders, directors, and largest shareholders of Tanox, Inc. in class action litigation over Tanox’s merger with Genentech (Superior Partners v. Chang, 471 F.Supp.2d 750 (S.D. Tex. 2007))
- Tried case to a finding of no-liability for the Special Committee of the Board of Directors of Chaparral Resources, Inc. in the Delaware Court of Chancery (In re Chaparral Resources, C.A. 2001-VCL, Del. Ch. Ct.)
Derivative Actions
- Representation of Special Litigation Committee of Sterling Bancshares in connection with threatened litigation relating to its merger with Comerica Bank (John Stockton v. Anat Bird, et al; Case Nos. 2011-07148 & 2011-21925 (Harris Cty., Texas))
- Representation of the Special Litigation Committee of Lufkin Industries in connection with a derivative suit challenging its merger with General Electric
- Defense of Imperial Sugar and its directors in derivative suits challenging its acquisition by Louis Dreyfus
- Representation of Titanium Metals and its directors in derivative suit challenging related party transactions (Bauman v. Simmons, et al, Case No. 3:11-cv-03607 (N.D. Tex. 2011); La. Mun. Police Ret. Sys. v. Harold C. Simmons, et al., C.A. 7059-CS, Del. Ch. Ct.)
- Representation of the CEO and other senior executives of Landry’s Restaurants, Inc. in litigation and investigation relating to options practice
- Representation of Special Litigation Committee of Meridian Resources in a derivative action relating to its merger with Alta Mesa Holdings
- Representation of ICO in a derivative action relating to its merger with A. Schulman
- Defense of Baker Hughes Incorporated along with its current and former officers and directors in a series of derivative cases in state and federal court arising out of the Company’s 2007 FCPA settlement, with all cases being dismissed (Midwestern Teamsters Pension Trust Fund, et al. v. Baker Hughes, Inc., et al., 2010 WL 3359560 (S.D. Tex. May 26, 2010), 2009 WL 6799492 (S.D. Tex. May 7, 2009))
Additional Securities Matters, Corporate Investigations, and Other Trials
- Defense of Independent Directors, CEO, and CFO of IDEV Technologies, Inc. before trial court, appellate court, and the Texas Supreme Court and the Delaware Court of Chancery and the Delaware Supreme Court, won three motions to dismiss and two appellate court victories (Pinto Technology Ventures, L.P., et al. v. Sheldon, et al., 526 S.W.3d 428 (Tex. 2017); Sheldon v. Pinto Technology Ventures, L.P., et al., 2019 WL 336985 (Del. Ch. Ct. Jan. 25, 2019)
- Led successful effort to recover multi-million dollar put right in connection with the sale of a business (QC Holdings, Inc. v. AllConnect, Inc., 2018 WL 4091721 (Del Ch. Ct. Aug. 28, 2018))
- FCPA investigations for oilfield services companies involving multiple issues in several countries; defense of multiple CEOs concerning various FCPA and insider trading matters
- Defense of companies in connection with FINRA/OSRA matters; defense of broker-dealers in FINRA and NASD arbitrations
- Defense of Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank in $13 billion fraud and tortious interference suit brought by Huntsman Corporation over Huntsman’s failed merger with Hexion, described as the “trial of the year” in 2009 (Huntsman Corp. v. Credit Suisse Securities (USA), LLC, et al.; Cause No. 08-09-09258 (Montgomery Cty., Texas); Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC, et al. v. Huntsman Corp., 269 S.W.3d 722 (Tex. App.--Beaumont 2008, no pet.))