HOUSTON – Houston trial lawyer John H. Kim, founder of The Kim Law Firm, secured a take-nothing defense verdict in a bet-the-company case for a Houston-based client that was accused of breaching a contract related to the supply of environmental waste containers.
Only weeks before the trial, Mr. Kim was hired to defend his client against damage claims totaling $57 million. In addition to securing the defense win, he also won pre-trial summary judgment rulings that excluded individual defendants who worked for his client, Houston’s Environmental Packaging Technologies Limited.
“This was a bet-the-company case and John only had it for 60 days or so before the trial. I was comfortable at the courthouse, like somebody had my back, somebody cared. John was well-prepared; he was aggressive when he needed to be. He did his job and we won. I couldn’t praise him more in this situation,” says Shane Sims, president of Environmental Packaging.
Despite an attempt to score millions from Mr. Kim’s client, the Mexican environmental company that filed the lawsuit came up short after jurors determined that a contract between the two companies for containers of liquid hazardous chemicals was unenforceable because of the lack of exact contract terms and the possibility that third parties, such as border agents, caused some of the problems.
“It’s always a challenge to come into a case just before trial, but it’s one I thoroughly enjoy taking on,” says Mr. Kim, a veteran of numerous courtroom trials.
Mr. Kim’s co-counsel in this case were Denise H. Mitchell of The Kim Law Firm, Robert D. Green of Green Trial Law and Pete T. Patterson of Patterson P.C.
Mr. Kim is a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA) and serves as the current president of the group’s Houston chapter. He has earned selection to the Texas Super Lawyers list all 10 years since the list was first published in 2003.
The case tried in Harris County District Judge Brent Gamble’s court is Corporativo de Servicios Ambientales S.A. de C.V. vs. Environmental Packaging Technologies Limited, No. 2009-75593.
The Kim Law Firm has recovered more than half a billion dollars for clients through aggressive litigation. The firm represents entrepreneurs, business start-ups, mid-sized companies, and established national and international corporations in everything from contract and complex business disputes to insider trading allegations, trade secrets and other intellectual property disputes.
