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Joshua C. Thomas

Partner

Houston
T +1.713.646.1322
F +1.713.751.1717
jthomas@bakerlaw.com
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Overview

Josh Thomas focuses his practice on complex business and commercial litigation, particularly for clients in the energy, oil and gas, and construction industries. Josh strives to understand not only his clients’ immediate goals for the litigation at hand, but all aspects of his clients’ businesses, so that he can develop efficient and effective strategies and obtain successful results.

With prior experience as a project scientist for an environmental engineering and consulting firm, Josh also has a wide scope of knowledge regarding technical issues in the environmental, health and safety, and construction fields. In his career prior to law, Josh focused on serving clients in the power generation and transmission business, including extensive work on the Seaholm Power Plant decommissioning project in Austin, Texas. Josh's technical background paired with his experience representing clients in all aspects of the energy industry gives him a unique depth of awareness when handling issues his clients face.

Select Experience

  • Key member of trial team that won a $62 million jury verdict in Harris County, Texas, on behalf of an independent oil and gas client. After a month-long trial, the jury found the operator’s willful misconduct in the construction of a gas processing facility, and in the drilling of a gas well, resulted in millions of dollars in costs overruns and tens of millions of dollars in damage to a major gas reservoir.
  • Served as second chair in a commercial arbitration case involving a dispute over the installation of a turbine control system. Obtained a favorable result for the client, including award of actual damages and attorney’s fees and a take-nothing judgment on the defendant’s $5 million counterclaim.
  • Served as second chair in a Harris County, Texas, jury trial in a dispute between business owners over the development of intellectual property. Obtained a jury verdict for monetary damages for the client and a permanent injunction against the defendant.
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Experience

  • Key member of trial team that won a $62 million jury verdict in Harris County, Texas, on behalf of an independent oil and gas client. After a month-long trial, the jury found the operator’s willful misconduct in the construction of a gas processing facility, and in the drilling of a gas well, resulted in millions of dollars in costs overruns and tens of millions of dollars in damage to a major gas reservoir.
  • Served as second chair in a commercial arbitration case involving a dispute over the installation of a turbine control system. Obtained a favorable result for the client, including award of actual damages and attorney’s fees and a take-nothing judgment on the defendant’s $5 million counterclaim.
  • Served as second chair in a Harris County, Texas, jury trial in a dispute between business owners over the development of intellectual property. Obtained a jury verdict for monetary damages for the client and a permanent injunction against the defendant. 
  • Served as second chair in a Louisiana bench trial involving a dispute over ownership of mineral assets in the Haynesville and Bossier Shale plays.
  • Defended a retail electricity and natural gas client in consumer class action litigation in multiple states, resulting in favorable settlements prior to class certification.
  • Key member of team that successfully defended a client in a multibillion-dollar environmental civil penalty action relating to an active Superfund site.
  • Assisted in the defense of a client in a federal court lawsuit involving the client’s licensing and development of an industrial wastewater treatment technology in partnership with a public university in Texas. Obtained a favorable settlement amounting to less than a 10th of the damages sought by the plaintiff.
  • Assisted with the representation of an operator involved in a dispute over a title to minerals in Louisiana. Won summary judgment in favor of the client on all of the plaintiff’s claims.
  • Assisted in the defense of an oil and gas industry client in a dispute involving an exploration agreement and a joint operating agreement. Obtained a favorable outcome for the client through a series of successful motions for summary judgment that challenged the plaintiff’s standing to bring claims for assignment of valuable producing properties under area of mutual interest provision.
  • Assisted in the prosecution of a seismic exploration company’s claim for overriding royalties owed under a seismic data licensing agreement. The matter was settled in favor of the client.
  • Represented a client in the retail energy industry in a claim for early termination fees under a commercial natural gas supply agreement in federal court in Massachusetts. Resolved in favor of the client at mediation.
  • Defended a retail energy industry client against a New York plaintiff’s class action lawsuit under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. Acquired a dismissal after strategic use of an offer of judgment that mooted the plaintiff’s individual and class action claims.
  • Defended a retail energy industry client against the plaintiff’s claims of “slamming” and “cramming” in the Southern District of New York. The matter was dismissed based on the plaintiff’s lack of standing. 

Recognitions and Memberships

Recognitions

  • Texas Super Lawyers "Rising Star" (2012 to 2018)

Memberships

  • Houston Bar Association
  • Houston Young Lawyers Association

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Prior Positions

  • Project Manager for Weston Solutions, an Environmental Engineering and Consulting Firm
  • Intern for Justice Laura Carter Higley of the First Court of Appeals of Texas
  • Intern for Justice Leslie Brock Yates of the Fourteenth Court of Appeals of Texas

Admissions

  • U.S. District Court, Northern District of Texas
  • U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Texas
  • U.S. District Court, Southern District of Texas
  • Texas

Education

  • J.D., University of Houston Law Center, 2008; summa cum laude; Order of the Coif; Order of the Barons; Managing Editor, Houston Law Review
  • B.S., Environmental Sciences, Auburn University, 1998

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