HOUSTON – Two of AZA’s unanimous jury verdicts on behalf of Houston-based energy companies were named by TopVerdict.com among the Top 50 Verdicts in Texas in 2023.  AZA frequently makes top verdict lists in Texas and nationally. The full list for 2023 is available here: Top 50 Verdicts in Texas in 2023 – TopVerdict.com.  The 15th-largest verdict in the state in 2023 was a $41.8 million win from a South Texas jury in an oil and gas trespass case against Energy Transfer. The McMullen County jury found AZA client SilverBow Resources and Hogan Thompson’s client El Dorado Gas & Oil we ..read more

HOUSTON – AZA’s unanimous jury verdict win for Houston-based energy giant DistributionNOW (DNOW) was named by TopVerdict.com among the Top 50 Verdicts in Texas in 2023.  AZA frequently makes the top verdict lists in Texas and nationally. For 2023, it was for a Fort Bend County verdict of $9 million against Toby Eoff and others involved in a conspiracy against DNOW, a leading global supplier of energy and industrial products and services. The full list is available here: Top 50 Verdicts in Texas in 2023 – TopVerdict.com.  The jury found that prominent Odessa businessman Eoff willfully ..read more

HOUSTON – The Supreme Court of Texas agreed with AZA’s appellate team when it found that a trial court abused its discretion when it failed to dismiss a case against energy giant Weatherford International.  The justices found on April 26 that Weatherford could not be sued in a Texas court. The case was filed by the family of a worker who lived in South Africa and centered on questions about a medical test conducted in Egypt.   “All statutory factors weigh in favor of the claims for wrongful death being heard in a forum outside Texas, and the trial court clearly abused its discre ..read more

HOUSTON – In a business divorce trial where the plaintiff presented damages of up to $82 million, a Harris County jury unanimously found he should take nothing and returned a verdict in favor of AZA’s clients.  Hunter Carr, who ran a diabetes treatment consultancy along with AZA’s clients, alleged in the lawsuit that the others squeezed him out of their business and improperly sold company assets to themselves. But AZA clients Scott Hepford and partners showed the jury they had saved the assets in the sale because their company was failing.  In the two-week trial before Judge Ravi Sa ..read more

HOUSTON – Thirteen AZA lawyers were selected to the 2024 Texas Rising Stars list of leading young attorneys in the state, an honor based on peer nominations and independent research.    Partners Cameron Byrd, Nathan Campbell, Taylor Freeman, Edward “Ward” Goolsby, Shahmeer Halepota, Jason McManis, Jordan Warshauer and Kelsi Stayart White were named to the list, which is a part of Thomson Reuters’ Super Lawyers. Associates Weining Bai,  Michael Killingsworth, Louis Liao and Paul Turkevich  were also named, as was AZA Of Counsel Kyle Poelker.      Only 2.5 ..read more

HOUSTON – Cameron Byrd, Nathan Campbell,  Jordan Warshauer and Kelsi Stayart White have been named partners at the trial and appellate boutique AZA.    “This class of new partners is wildly accomplished and deserving of their promotions,” said AZA co-founder John Zavitsanos. The lawyers will officially become partners on Jan. 1, 2024.   Mr. Byrd is a trial lawyer who represents plaintiffs and defendants in commercial and intellectual property disputes. As lead counsel, Mr. Byrd has won jury trials, bench trials and arbitrations. He has been recognized as a top young lawyer ..read more

HOUSTON – In a case that has already changed Texas sexual harassment law, a jury awarded $250,000 to a female firefighter whose supervisor obtained an intimate video made for her husband and secretly watched it for years.   The jury awarded $80,000 in actual damages for mental anguish, $50,000 in punitive damages and $120,166 in attorneys’ fees to Melinda Abbt in Judge Ursula Hall’s court.   During the two-day trial, the jury heard testimony from Ms. Abbt, her husband, a former fire department psychologist and the defendant, her former supervisor John Barrientes. This finding was aga ..read more

HOUSTON – It took a Harris County jury only an hour, including lunch, to find that Justin Carl Pfeiffer, a former associate at the Houston firm of Berg & Androphy, was not owed any of the back pay he so contentiously claimed.   At trial, Mr. Pfeiffer demanded $50,000 in back pay. He claimed he was still working a few weeks after AZA’s client David Berg asked him to resign in 2018. Mr. Pfeiffer, now a partner at Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith, claimed he had a contract that allowed this. But the jury in Harris County District Judge Cory Don Sepolio’s court found there was no ..read more

HOUSTON – Harris County Judge Elaine Palmer issued a remarkable sanction of $525,000 against lawyers Michael D. Sydow, Chidi D. Anunobi and their client Iron Oak, a litigation management company. The judge also required that Messrs. Sydow and Anunobi must each take 10 hours of ethics CLE each year for the next five years. At AZA’s request for its frivolously sued inventor clients, the judge ordered:    a $250,000 sanction on Iron Oak (the suing party)   a $250,000 sanction on Iron Oak lawyer Michael D. Sydow   A $25,000 sanction on Iron Oak lawyer Chidi D. A ..read more

HOUSTON – Texas Lawyer recognizes AZA as a Texas firm that is thriving and “should be on everybody’s radar” both for its successful newly launched appellate practice and its diversity and inclusion.  “Texas Lawyer has recognized AZA as a litigation department of the year three times in various categories. We are pleased to see the legal news group’s new awards recognize us this year for our terrific appellate team and our wildly diverse group of lawyers overall,” said John Zavitsanos, co-founder of the firm.   The Texas Lawyer Watch List, which spotlights the accomplishments of ..read more