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D. Gibson
Walton
Partner, Houston
gib.walton@hoganlovells.com
Gib Walton is a co-leader of Hogan Lovells' global Projects, Engineering, and Construction practice, a partner in the Houston office, and a member of the Litigation practice. His principal area of practice is civil litigation, including jury trials, bench trials, and arbitration.
Gib represents plaintiffs and defendants in corporate, securities, commercial, fiduciary, construction, professional liability, product liability, probate, and oil and gas/energy litigation. A Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, he is certified as a specialist in Civil Trial Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization.
According to Chambers USA (2010), Gib "is praised for his 'excellence as a trial lawyer.' In addition, he recently acted as president of the State Bar of Texas. His expertise covers a range of commercial, securities, products liability, and oil and gas trial work, while his recent caseload has included a substantial volume of construction disputes relating to the energy sector." According to Legal 500 US (2011), "Houston-based Gib Walton 'manage[s] cases effectively and with a minimum of oversight.'"
Handling complex civil commercial litigation in state and federal courts, Gib has first-chaired over 40 jury trials and been the lead trial lawyer in hundreds of other lawsuits, arbitrations, and appeals. He has argued 13 appeals before the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals and the Texas Courts of Appeal and one appeal before the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.
Prior to joining our legal practice, Gib was a partner at another large international law firm. Following law school, he served as a judicial clerk to The Honorable Malcolm R. Wilkey of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.
REPRESENTATIVE EXPERIENCE
Representing a pharmaceutical manufacturer in a False Claims Act suit pending in the Southern District of Texas (Houston Division).
Represented plaintiffs in breach of contract and misappropriation of trade secrets case pending in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas (Austin Division) (confidential settlement).
Served as arbitrator in international arbitration under CPR rules (settled before evidentiary hearing).
Represented international EPC contractor in LCIA arbitration involving design and construction of LNG terminal in South America (settled before evidentiary hearing).
Represented a software developer in Texas state court, obtained temporary restraining order prohibiting business disparagement by employees of another software company (settlement negotiated after TRO was entered).
Defended two Japanese agencies against trade secrets claims filed in federal court in Houston. After filing motions to dismiss, achieved agreed dismissal on sovereign immunity and jurisdictional grounds.
Represented sellers, as plaintiffs, against one of the largest U.S. natural gas producers in breach of contract suit filed in federal district court. Case involved sale of valuable oil and gas properties; achieved successful settlement for all damages sought.
Represented individual defendant in multimillion dollar contract dispute concerning assignments of leases and allocation of overriding royalty interests from oil and gas production in the Gulf of Mexico; settled in mediation.
Advised the City of Houston in disputes with developers over highly-publicized construction of a high-rise residential building adjoining residential areas.
Defended large, publicly-traded oil and gas exploration company and its board of directors in state court in Houston in a shareholder action filed to enjoin the company's US$3.5 billion merger with another publicly-traded energy exploration company. After obtaining a stay of discovery from the Texas Supreme Court, successfully argued for dismissal in the trial court. Merger closed two days later, forming (at that time) the largest independent oil and gas exploration company in the world.*
Representing defendant, enforced contractual arbitration provision and obtained US$25 million arbitration award involving post-closing working capital adjustments against plaintiff, a publicly-traded electronic manufacturing company.*
Represented publicly-traded national EPC contractor, as plaintiff, and won substantial federal court jury verdict against owner. Case involved design and construction of Gulf Coast chemical plant and settled in mediation after verdict. Case recognized by National Law Journal as "Verdict of the Week" and ranked 68th on the "NLJ 100" annual list of the largest verdicts.*
Defended international EPC contractor in suit brought by large oil company arising out of manufacturing defects in six reactors fabricated by Korean manufacturer/sub-contractor and erected by defendant contractor. These reactors processed approximately 5 percent of all gasoline sold in the U.S. Claims and cross-claims alleged damages in excess of US$70 million, not including consequential damages. Case settled with client contractor paying no damages and receiving its entire base fee and a portion of its bonus.*
Defended a large international waste company in securities class action in federal court (settled) and in related derivative and private securities litigation in state court (summary judgment affirmed on appeal).*
Defended large oil company against allegations of theft of trade secrets involving technology used for drilling offshore wells. Plaintiff sought unspecified damages of tens of millions of dollars. After two years of discovery (strictly limited at our request after several hearings and extensive briefing), court granted our client's motion to dismiss relying on forum selection clause.*
Represented oil field service company as plaintiff in six-week jury trial securing US$16 million jury verdict and award of US$3.2 million in attorney's fees. (Judgment reversed on appeal when appellate court found only a preliminary agreement to agree.)*
Represented defendant architect in AAA arbitration where plaintiff owner made claims alleging negligent misrepresentation, fraud, negligence, breach of fiduciary duty, breach of implied warranty, breach of express warranty, deceptive trade practices, and usury. Plaintiff sought actual damages, forfeiture of fees, three times amount of usurious interest allegedly charged, punitive damages, attorneys' fees, pre- and post-judgment interest and costs. Based on counterclaim, three arbitrators unanimously awarded architect client the amount of his unpaid architectural fees, attorneys' fees, and costs. All of plaintiff's claims were denied.*
*Matters handled prior to joining our legal practice.
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