Joshua C. Thomas

Experience

Energy, Oil & Gas

• 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.
• Represented oil and gas producer in a Louisiana bench trial involving a dispute over ownership of mineral assets in the Haynesville and Bossier Shale plays.
• Defends retail electricity and natural gas clients in numerous consumer class action litigation in multiple states, including consumer fraud and TCPA cases, resulting in favorable settlements prior to class certification.
• Represented oil and gas operator 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.
• Defended oil and gas company in a dispute involving an exploration agreement, joint operating agreement, and area of mutual interest agreement. Obtained a favorable outcome for the client through a series of successful motions that challenged the plaintiff’s standing to bring claims for assignment of valuable producing properties.
• Represented seismic exploration company in a lawsuit involving overriding royalties owed under a seismic data licensing agreement, resulting in a creative and favorable settlement.
• Represented retail energy supplier in a claim for early termination fees under a commercial natural gas supply agreement in federal court in Massachusetts.

Construction

• Won an arbitration award of actual damages and attorney’s fees, and a take-nothing judgment on the defendant’s $5 million counterclaim, in a commercial arbitration case involving a dispute over the installation of a turbine control system.
• Represented manufacturer of industrial turbomachinery parts, in case involving catastrophic failure of a gas turbine at an electric power generation facility.

Business and Commercial

• Represented business owner in a Harris County, Texas, jury trial, in a dispute involving development of intellectual property. Obtained a jury verdict for monetary damages and a permanent injunction against the defendant.
• Defended 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 tenth of the damages sought by the plaintiff.
• Participated in the firm’s representation of Securities Investor Protection Act (SIPA) Trustee for the global liquidation of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC, one of the largest financial frauds in U.S. history.

Environmental

• Key member of team that successfully defended a client in a multibillion-dollar environmental civil penalty action relating to an active Superfund site.
• Represented property owner in environmental suit involving allegations of migration of a groundwater contamination plume underneath adjacent property.

Memberships

• American Bar Association
• Houston Bar Association

Community

• Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo: Volunteer