Accomplishments

Since 1999, Taylor & Warren, L.L.P. has represented major sand suppliers in Texas silica litigation. By aggressively defending these clients, Taylor & Warren, L.L.P. has reduced the average settlement of each of these clients. For one client, the average settlement per case has been reduced 90% from pre-Taylor & Warren, L.L.P. and the average settlement per claimant is down over 90% from pre-Taylor & Warren, L.L.P. Moreover, this reduction in settlement values occurred while reducing overall litigation costs.

In a Texas asbestos case styled Johnny B. Aaron, et al. v. Abex Corporation, et al., Taylor & Warren, L.L.P. represented a safety equipment manufacturer. Plaintiffs ultimately obtained a $100 million plus verdict against one defendant. Taylor & Warren, L.L.P., after aggressively pursuing summary judgments on behalf of the its client, obtained a dismissals from all 430 plus claimants.

In a case styled Russell v. Ingersoll-Rand Company, et al., 841 S.W.2d 343 (Tex. 1992), Taylor & Warren, L.L.P. obtained summary judgment for its client based upon the statute of limitations. Plaintiff appealed to the Texas Supreme Court and argued that the deceased plaintiff’s survival and wrongful death claims accrued at his death, not when he was diagnosed with the occupational disease. Taylor & Warren, L.L.P. successfully argued that the survival and wrongful death actions accrued when the deceased plaintiff learned of his occupational disease, thereby securing not only a summary judgment for its client, but also establishing new case law beneficial to all defendants of lawsuits involving occupational diseases.

In addition to establishing new toxic tort law, Taylor & Warren, L.L.P. has also been on the leading edge of applying new law in occupational diseases cases. In Austin v. Kerr-McGee Refining Corporation, 253 S.W.3d 280 (Tex.App.-Texarkana 2000), Taylor & Warren, L.L.P. was one of the first to successfully exclude a plaintiff’s expert in a toxic tort case under Texas’ Havner decision (allowing the exclusion of an expert witness where it is established that the expert’s opinions are not well-grounded in the methods and procedures of science). As a result of excluding plaintiff’s expert, Taylor & Warren, L.L.P. obtained summary judgment on behalf of its client based upon lack of medical causation.

Taylor & Warren, L.L.P. represented a tower construction company in a multi-million dollar breach of contract lawsuit filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas in Houston. Taylor & Warren, L.L.P. obtained summary judgment disposing of numerous claims against its client resulting in a favorable settlement.

Taylor & Warren, L.L.P. was lead counsel in one of the first Personal Water Craft trials in the United States, which resulted in a defense verdict. The case involved allegations that the Personal Water Craft was defective because the craft did not have a blower to exhaust gasoline fumes from the engine compartment per United States Coast Guard Regulations. The water craft was involved in a explosion because of a fuel leak in the engine compartment. Taylor & Warren, L.L.P., in defense of the case, was able to show the water craft’s fuel leak was caused by the owner’s own negligence in making repairs and that the fuel system was uniquely designed in a manner so as to exempt the fuel system from the Coast Guard Regulations.