Texas Jury Awards up to 146 Million Dollars in Oil Contract Dispute

Austin Oil and Gas Attorney, Gregory D. Jordan

Austin, TX (Law Firm Newswire) March 17, 2017 – A jury awarded up to $146 million in a Texas oil dispute.

The jury found that J. Cleo Thompson and two Texas oil companies breached an agreement with T. Boone Pickens’ Mesa Petroleum Partners to acquire and drill more than 160 oil wells. The verdict came after a three-week trial in a business dispute that has lasted for over a decade, with Pickens claiming that Thompson, Delaware Basin Resources and Baytech improperly excluded Mesa from a profitable deal.

“T. Boone Pickens is a legend in the oil industry,” said Gregory D. Jordan, an Austin business litigation attorney and Austin oil and gas attorney with the Law Offices of Gregory D. Jordan. “He has shown repeatedly that, when he believes he is right and he cannot get something resolved, he is not afraid to take someone to court,” Jordan added.

The jury of seven men and five women deliberated for three hours over the course of two days before deciding that Delaware Basin and Baytech must pay $130 million plus attorneys’ fees, and J. Cleo Thompson must pay $12 million plus attorneys’ fees. Lawyers for the defendants said their clients disagree with the verdict.

Mesa had argued that Thompson conspired with the other two defendants to take Mesa’s 15 percent interest in the oil well project. Lawyers for the defendants claimed that their clients had not done anything wrong and that Pickens had verbally withdrawn from the deal, and regretted it when the project became profitable.