HOUSTON – When a Houston-based industrial service provider came after an AZA client for the third time, AZA associate Brittainie Zinsmeyer led the summary judgment briefing that quickly convinced a business court judge to toss the case.
CAM Industrial Solutions first tried a petition in Harris County for pre-suit depositions, but that was tossed out by a judge. Then it filed a lawsuit in Chambers County alleging more than 10 claims, including trade secret misappropriation and tortious interference action against AZA client, Brown & Root Industrial Services. In February, a jury tossed the nine-figure actual and punitive damages claim against Brown & Root that claimed it had improperly obtained Exxon facility maintenance work formerly held by CAM Industrial Solutions.
Then, the night before the Chambers County judge entered the final judgment, CAM Industrial Solutions’ Big Law legal team tried again by filing a new lawsuit which asserted a substantial eight-figure claim based on an almost identical set of facts against Brown & Root in the Texas Business Courts.
“To us, this was obviously another bite at the same apple. But, the other side tried to make it murky by couching their claim with a different, named co-defendant. Our plan was to use demonstratives in the briefing and during oral argument to show the Judge that CAM’s ‘new’ claim was nothing new at all. We are grateful that the Court saw through what was going on and stopped our client from having to defend against the same accusations yet again,” Ms. Zinsmeyer said of Judge Brian Stagner. In a 24-page August opinion, Judge Stagner knocked down all the CAM Industrial arguments against Brown & Root and dismissed the lawsuit against Brown & Root before any discovery began.
Ms. Zinsmeyer argued the summary judgment motion before the court and led the briefing with the AZA team, which included Joe Ahmad, Weining Bai, Daryl Moore, Davis Metzger and Grace Darrah.
The case is CAM Industrial Solutions LLC v Brown & Root Industrial Services LLC in the 11th Division of the Texas Business Courts, case number 26-BC11A-0024.
Houston and Dallas trial boutique Ahmad Zavitsanos & Mensing, or AZA, has earned repeated recognition from Chambers USA among the best in Texas for our commercial law, intellectual property and appellate practices; the firm has been listed by Best Lawyers’ Best Law Firms as one of the country’s best commercial litigation firms for 13 years; has been named Litigation Department of the Year by Texas Lawyer three times; and was twice dubbed a Texas Powerhouse law firm by Law360.