J. HOKE "TREY" PEACOCK III, born Austin, Texas; admitted to bar, 1990, Texas.
Trey Peacock has been practicing at Susman Godfrey since 1991 and became a partner in 1995. Over that time, he has represented plaintiffs and defendants in a wide variety of complex litigation matters in a variety of forums including trials, arbitrations, and complex mediations. He has handled cases in Texas, Michigan, Florida, Mississippi, Delaware, Connecticut, and Massachusetts. He has assisted clients in a variety of matters including antitrust, products liability, intellectual property, health care, onshore and offshore construction, employment, class actions, and toxic tort litigation.
In 2005, 2009, and 2010, Texas Monthly and Texas Law and Politics magazines named Peacock a "Super Lawyer" in Texas.
Significant past achievements include: - May 2010 -- It's one thing for a plaintiff to wave the white flag on the courthouse steps; it's quite another thing for it to happen in the courtroom itself with a jury panel waiting in the hallway. That's precisely what Peacock and Shawn Raymond made happen on May 19, 2010 for its client Oaktree Capital Management, one of the premier private equity firms in the United States.
As 48 potential jurors were about to enter the courtroom for jury selection, Peacock and Raymond won a dismissal with prejudice of all claims against Oaktree. The investment banker plaintiff had sought $7+ million in damages for alleged fraud and breach of fiduciary duty based on the assertion that Oaktree and the CEO of a publicly traded oil and gas company had conspired to cut the plaintiff out of a $40 million transaction.
In exchange for the dismissal with prejudice, Oaktree paid . . . nothing. Not one penny. And not anything else for that matter. Jim Ford, a Managing Director at Oaktree, called the result a "great outcome" and noted, "We were confident that the jury would find in our favor, but thanks to Trey's and Shawn's hard work and legal skills, we never had to find out. We were completely vindicated and able to avoid the cost and uncertainty inherent in any jury trial. We couldn't be happier with their representation."
Immediately after the plaintiff dismissed all claims against Oaktree, the remaining defendant hired Trey and Shawn to help its current lawyers try the case. - April 2009 – Following an intense, consolidated discovery period in this $14 million breach of contract case brought against their client Cosentino USA – the maker of Silestone© – by one of Cosentino's largest distributors, Trey Peacock and Shawn Raymond settled the matter on terms that, while confidential, led Cosentino's founder and President, Roberto Contreras, to comment: "You went above and beyond to secure a positive result. Your preparation was impeccable and you out-lawyered your opponent at every turn."
Peacock has also represented Cosentino in a variety of other matters including disputes with distributors and products liability claims against suppliers. - March 2009 - Peacock served as lead counsel to Quantum World Corporation in its patent infringement case against Lenovo, IBM, Atmel, and WinBond filed in the Eastern District of Texas. The case settled on satisfactory terms shortly before trial in early 2009 for a confidential amount. Click here to see the client's comments.
- For several years, Peacock represented KB Home in various matters including a web domain dispute, a class action over warranty practices, and an arbitration over development of a large neighborhood in North Texas.
- From 2001 through 2007, Peacock represented ABB Lummus Global Inc. in a series of lawsuits and arbitrations involving disputes over various construction projects. These disputes have included onshore facilities and offshore structures.
- October 2006 - Peacock served as lead counsel and successfully defended ABB Lummus Global, Inc. and its joint venture with Heerema Zwindrecht, which built and delivered a $700 million offshore exploration and development platform, in a multi-million dollar construction dispute with one of the project's subcontractors. Plaintiff sought over $5 million for alleged breaches of the parties' subcontract. The case was arbitrated before a three-member panel in June 2006 pursuant to the UNCITRAL rules. Peacock fully prevailed for his client. The panel rejected all of the Plaintiff's claims and Peacock succeeded in obtaining a full award of attorneys' fees and costs for his client.
- 2003 - Peacock served as lead class counsel for a group of former African-American employees at Western Auto who brought suit for discrimination under Title VII. After prevailing on the appeal of class certification to the 11th Circuit, the case settled for a substantial sum.
- Fall of 2001 - Along with Katie Sammons, he represented Methodist Hospital and St. Luke's Hospital in an arbitration against Caremark over the sale of the Kelsey-Seybold clinics in Houston, Texas. Their efforts resulted in a multi-million dollar arbitral award in favor of their clients.
- Peacock represented ASARCO for a number of years defending them in a series of cases involving alleged arsenic contamination and exposure in Commerce, Texas. His efforts convinced Judge Barefoot Sanders to strike two of plaintiffs' key environmental experts.
- Peacock served for many years as class counsel to over 3000 homeowners in Corpus Christi, Texas regarding claims they prosecuted against a series of petrochemical refineries and facilities along the City's refinery Row. His work help achieve settlements in excess of $30,000,000 for the class.
- In 1999, along with Steve Susman, Neal Manne and Harry Susman, he successfully tried a family shareholder dispute on behalf of Florence McBride and Victoria Baks against their brother Manny Moroun over their interests in one of the largest privately held trucking companies in the United States, which also happened to own the Ambassador Bridge between Detroit, Michigan and Canada. The three month trial was the longest civil trial in the history of Oakland County, Michigan. The case settled on highly favorable terms shortly before trial ended and after Peacock completed his cross examination of Defendants' key damages expert. See attached link for comments by one of the clients (Link).
Educational Background and Civic Experience:
Mr. Peacock is a native of Beaumont, Texas and graduated from Princeton University in 1987 with honors in American History. He graduated from The University of Texas School of Law in 1990 with honors and as a Member of the Order of the Coif and the Chancellors. While at UT, he served as the Managing Editor of the Texas Law Review. He then served as a judicial clerk to the Honorable Joseph T. Sneed on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.
In addition to his legal practice, Mr. Peacock has served as the Chair of the Antitrust Section of the Houston Bar Association. He is a member of the Texas Bar as well as the Supreme Court of the United States, the Fifth and Ninth Circuits, and all of the federal district courts in Texas. He has previously served on the Board of Directors of The Children's Fund, a Houston based charity raising money for startup children's charities in Houston. He currently serves on the Board of Directors and the Executive Committee of Houston's Alley Theatre and served as the Chair (along with his wife Christina Bryan) of the 2005 Alley Theatre Ball honoring the Alley's longtime Artistic Director Gregory Boyd.
Mr. Peacock is married with three children Jake, Carson, and Nolan Peacock. When not practicing law, he enjoys fly fishing, cycling, and snowboarding.
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