Complex Litigation Cases

Co-counsel in an ERISA class action alleging that plan fiduciaries breached their duties of loyalty and prudence by selecting and maintaining inappropriate Putnam mutual funds for the defendant company's 401(k) plan.
After four days of trial in Galveston state court, Ajamie lawyers settled a lawsuit against two insurance agents, six insurance companies and a law firm for $7,290,000. The lawsuit alleged that the defendants negligently advised a 90-year-old widow and her 65-year-old son to sell their Berkshire Hathaway Company stock (NYSE: BRKA) and use the proceeds to purchase life insurance and annuities as part of an "estate tax plan." The Texas Lawyer reported this recovery as one of the top ten settlements in 2006.
Prevailed in the Texas Supreme Court when the Court declined to grant an emergency mandamus petition filed by the defendant insurance company. Our clients sued the defendant insurance company in a $10 million commercial fraud lawsuit. After two years of intense discovery, we were able to establish the personal involvement of the insurance company's CEO. After we convinced the trial judge to order the deposition of the insurance company's CEO, the defendant argued that the CEO was protected by the Crown Central apex doctrine. The defendant insurance company immediately filed a petition for writ of mandamus with the Texas Court of Appeals in Houston. After receiving our briefing, the Court of Appeals denied the Petition for Mandamus. The insurance company appealed to the Texas Supreme Court on an emergency basis. After receiving our briefs, the Texas Supreme Court ruled in our clients' favor and denied the petition for mandamus.
Representing the family of one of the victims of the collapse of the Queen Isabella Causeway, the Ajamie firm successfully negotiated a seven-figure, policy limits settlement of the litigation arising from the accident. The limitation of liability litigation arising out the allision of the M/V BROWN WATER V with the Queen Isabella Causeway in south Texas involved eight deaths and numerous personal injuries. In its annual summary of leading verdicts and settlements, VerdictSearch Texas reported in The Texas Lawyer that the recovery was the top admiralty/maritime settlement in Texas in 2005.
Negotiated a settlement in excess of $3.8 million for the surviving elderly mother of a construction worker who was killed in a workplace accident. The victim had no spouse or children. The lawsuit, which involved theories of defective product design, premises liability and negligent activity, settled on the eve of trial against multiple defendants.
Negotiated a $325,000 settlement of sexual assault/psychological injury lawsuit against an apartment complex. Allegations included inadequate security and premises liability. The case was controlled by the current Texas law which permits a criminal perpetrator's responsibility to reduce the defendant's responsibility. In this case the jury's allocation of fault against each of four perpetrators (all of whom were convicted of rape) would have reduced the fault of the apartment complex.
Obtained jury verdict, including $550,000 award of future pain and suffering, in medical malpractice case in Liberty County, Texas. The defendants made no offer prior to trial in this case, in which we alleged that they had failed to diagnose and treat a "saddle embolus" in the distal aorta resulting in injury to our client's leg, and an otherwise avoidable, disfiguring surgery. The case ultimately resulted in a confidential settlement in excess of eighty-five percent (85%) of the judgment.
Negotiated multi-million dollar settlement on behalf of child with a spinal injury in Houston, Harris County, Texas. Premises liability, fall through balcony railing. Case was investigated and rejected by several other personal injury law firms, as "no liability."
Negotiated settlement in excess of $650,000 on behalf of chemical plant worker who suffered fractured jaw, unoperated shoulder and unoperated neck injuries in Houston, Harris County, Texas.
Negotiated $300,000 settlement in a products liability case in Houston, Harris County, Texas for a wood worker who suffered a penetrating abdominal injury and resulting neuropathy.