LOCKHART, TX (March 6th, 2015) — After an eight-day trial in state court in Lockhart, Texas, Susman Godfrey client Dig Tech won a unanimous jury verdict for 100% of its breach of contract damages against defendant Star Operations, Inc.
The win is a huge victory for Dig Tech who, with the help of Susman Godfrey partners Brian Melton and Chanler Langham, also defeated Star Operation’s fraud and tortious interference counterclaims.
The case was brought to Brian Melton in June of 2014, just days before the first trial setting. Melton represented the owner of Dig-Tech, Don Furry, in a patent-related case several years ago, and Mr. Furry called Melton when he and his son, Mike Furry, found themselves scrambling to find new lawyers for this road construction case which had been on file for 2 years.
The Susman Godfrey team tracked down three of the defendant’s former employees to come and testify at trial about what happened on the State Highway 130 Tollway project from Austin to Seguin. These witnesses’ testimony helped dismantle Star’s asserted defenses that Dig Tech didn’t do the work, that nobody at Star with authority had approved hiring Dig Tech, and that potential violations of the Davis Bacon Act prevented Dig Tech from recovering in the lawsuit. In tracking down those former employees, Chanler Langham discovered that one key former Star employee had retained emails which had not been produced by Star in the litigation. Langham said, “The email traffic just didn’t add up – there were just too many holes in the email trail.”
Dig Tech has requested entry of judgment in the case against both Star Operations and its construction bonding company. Dig Tech has requested an award of attorney fees and interest.
The case was Dig Tech, Inc. v. Star Operations, Inc. and Great American Insurance Company of New York in the 22nd Judicial District Court, Caldwell County, Texas. The defendant was represented by James Robichaux of the Branscomb Law Firm out of Corpus Christi.
