Representative Cases

Burford Perry represented the family of Cameron Redus, a UIW senior, who was shot and killed by a UIW campus police officer in December 2013. The lawsuit settled for a confidential amount in August 2013, less than three weeks before trial. The trial was delayed for several years by appeals and then by the pandemic shutdown of jury trials. The lawsuit was the subject of two Texas Supreme Court opinions in 2017 and 2020. The second opinion was landmark opinion in holding that private universities do not have sovereign immunity from lawsuits.  

Burford Perry brought derivative claims on behalf of Mr. Muhammad Salim and his wife’s estate in their role as one-third owners of a chain of Houston-area imaging centres. The firm represented the plaintiffs through a confidential arbitration and, in early 2022, obtained a judgment confirming the arbitration award and awarding our clients over $7.4 million.  

Burford Perry represented WCW Houston Properties, LLC in this real estate dispute. WCW held a promissory note secured by a second-priority deed of trust against real property held by Texas REIT, LLC. WCW sought to foreclose and the owner of Texas REIT created a new entity to acquire the senior debt and wrongfully foreclosed, seeking to extinguish WCW’s lien. Burford Perry sued for wrongful foreclosure and obtained summary judgment for $6,967,483. The judgment also subordinated Texas REIT’s lien and permitted WCW to foreclose on its now first-priority lien.  

Burford Perry represented Mr. Christopher “Bowe” Daniels, the former General Counsel of LNG company Tellurian Inc. and co-founder of Parallax Enterprises, against claims brought by rival LNG company Cheniere Energy, Inc. This case commenced when Parallax alleged Cheniere breached a $500 million agreement to jointly develop a multi-billion-dollar LNG facility in Louisiana. Cheniere countered by suing Parallax, Tellurian, and four of Tellurian’s key officers, including Tellurian co-founder and former Cheniere CEO, Charif Souki. Following two years of litigation, Burford Perry filed a summary judgment on Mr. Daniels behalf, and Cheniere dismissed its claims against Mr. Daniels while the summary judgment was pending.

Burford Perry represented the defendants in a suit brought to compel specific performance of a contract for the sale of a 50% interest in a series of very valuable mineral and royalty interests in Louisiana. Burford Perry, on defendants’ behalf, argued that the contract was unenforceable resulting in a confidential, very advantageous settlement.  

Burford Perry represented the seller of a $12.5 million office building who was sued over allegations the seller misrepresented the property’s condition, boundary lines, the state of an easement benefitting the property, and the property’s cash generation abilities based on a planned retail center being constructed at the time of sale. After over two years of litigation, Burford Perry was able to obtain a favorable, confidential settlement.  

In a series of related cases, Burford Perry represented six investors in Panton, Inc., a “big data” technology startup that purported to leverage artificial intelligence. Collectively, these investors bought over $5 million in Panton stock in reliance on Panton’s misstated financials and misrepresentations regarding the state of Panton’s technology. Burford Perry filed securities fraud claims on behalf of its clients and recouped nearly all their money through confidential, pre-trial settlements. 

Burford Perry represented Ms. Lehang Lizeroux in claims related to her $3 million investment in a high-rise apartment development. The firm filed securities fraud claims against the project’s real estate developer and an EB-5 regional center through whom she had invested in reliance on both misrepresenting the project’s funding state and timetable and concealing the project’s proper distribution-of-proceeds waterfall. Burford Perry resolved the case on the eve of trial and recovered most of Lizeroux’s attorney’s fees and investment. 

Burford Perry, on behalf of multiple large mineral interest holders, sued Hilcorp and ConocoPhillips for breaching an oil and gas lease’s most favored nations clause and underpaying over $6 million in royalties. After three years of litigation and surviving multiple summary judgment filings, Burford Perry obtained a very favorable pre-trial settlement. 

Burford Perry represented the founder and former CEO of Life Partners, Inc., Brian Pardo, and his long time partner against allegations he breached his fiduciary duties to Life Partners, violated the Texas Securities Act, and took millions in preference payments from the company. In total, the company sought $700 million and said Pardo had run the largest Ponzi scheme in Texas history. After a two-week trial, the jury found that Life Partners was not a Ponzi scheme, and the court rendered judgment for less than 4% of the $700 million sought. Burford Perry was able to obtain the complete release of one of its clients through a post-judgment settlement while the case was on appeal. 

Robert Burford (co-counsel with Gibbs & Bruns) represented Vinson & Elkins attorney D. Bobbitt Noel in a fraud and breach of fiduciary duty case against billionaire Trevor Rees-Jones, Chief Energy and Devon Energy. Noel alleged an old friend, Rees-Jones, cheated him when he bought out Noel’s stake in a highly successful shale gas company, Chief Energy. After a several week trial and favorable jury verdict, the trial court awarded a $196 million judgment for Noel.