Representative Cases

Oil, Gas and Mining Disputes

A directionally drilled oil well suffered a catastrophic failure when a fabricated steel tubing section split under pressure downhole. The failure halted drilling operations, resulting in multi-million-dollar losses. The ensuing lawsuit involved the owner of the well, the drilling company, the operator and the casing company. We helped the parties reach a settlement that accounted for difficult questions of law, fault for the failure and accounting for the claimed revenue losses.

Reclamation Claims

A surface-owning landowner sued an oil company for claimed losses resulting from the oil company’s failure to properly reclaim the drilling site after operations ended. The case involved important questions about each side’s obligations under a surface use agreement. We helped the parties reach an agreement that not only provided for appropriate compensation, but also contained specific reclamation and clean-up arrangements.

Environmental Issues

An oilfield trucking company was accused of negligently hauling hazardous waste in violation of federal hazardous materials laws. We helped reach a settlement that resolved differences over difficult questions of law and responsibility for compliance with hazardous materials regulations.

Indian Law

We helped resolve a dispute involving multiple parties in a difficult, complex dispute. After three days of trying negotiations, all competing parties – including a major U.S. corporation – came together and resolved their differences cooperatively by setting aside millions of dollars into a fund whose sole purpose is to create and preserve recreational opportunities for some of our most impoverished youth.

Let’s find a solution, together.