Attorneys

Energy & Marine

Oil and Gas Contractual Litigation

Mr. Clark’s practice focuses on energy, marine, environmental casualty and related contractual indemnity and insurance coverage matters. Mr. Clark has practiced law for over 25 years, 9 of those years he was living in and practicing in New Orleans, Louisiana the other 16 years he has practiced in Houston, Texas. Mr. Clark is licensed in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.

Mr. Clark has litigated contractual matters in the onshore and offshore oil and gas industry. Mr. Clark has significant experience in litigating and drafting Oil and Gas Indemnity Agreements. Mr. Clark has written hundreds of opinions for clients on the enforceability of indemnity provisions. Mr. Clark has both prosecuted and defended dozens of cross claims for breach of contract and declaratory judgment for the enforcement of oil well indemnities. Mr. Clark is well versed in the anti-indemnity statutes of Texas, Louisiana and New Mexico.

Mr. Clark has also represented numerous national and international insurers in Coverage Disputes which arise with regard to insurance policies, additional insured coverage disputes, contractual indemnity provisions, excess monitoring of complex claims and other insurance litigation related to oil and gas disputes.

Mr. Clark was the lead attorney for the matter styled In Re Larry Doiron, Inc. 879 F.3rd 568 (5^th Cir. 2018). In that case Mr. Clark was successful in defeating an oil well indemnity claim by convincing the U.S. Fifth Circuit sitting En Banc to unanimously change the legal test for determining whether a contract is maritime in the Offshore Oilfield Services industry. The case is a significant case from the U.S. Fifth Circuit and it dramatically reshapes the enforceability of indemnity agreements in the offshore oil and gas context.

Mr. Clark’s contractual work also includes the representation of an E&P company in the recovery of operating costs under Joint Operating Agreements and Farmout Agreements. Mr. Clark has both defended and prosecuted claims for payment of invoices under Master Service Agreements. Mr. Clark has prosecuted and defended claims under the Louisiana Oil Well Lien Act and the Texas Oil Well Lien Act. While Mr. Clark is primarily a litigator he also drafts and negotiates Master Service Agreements.

Oil and Gas Property and Casualty

Mr. Clark has over 25 years of experience defending Oil and Gas related defendants in all manner of oil well casualties. Mr. Clark has defended offshore oil and gas producers and service companies in over 100 offshore casualty claims ranging from soft tissue back injuries to multi death casualty incidents. His experience reaches to both offshore platform cases and Jones Act cases on various forms of jack-up vessels, semi-submersibles, drillships, tension leg platforms, SPAR’s and the like.

Mr. Clark has also defended oil and gas producers and service companies in land-based actions including well blowouts, pipeline incidents, loss of tools downhole, product liability claims, oil spills, premises liability slips, trips, falls and other land-based casualty claims.

Some of Mr. Clark’s specific matters are listed below:

• Defense of Company Man in East Texas matter wherein a well blowout injured a derrick hand.
  
• Defense of excess insurer in Black Elk West Delta 32 explosion in which 19 plaintiffs filed suit, primarily responsible for settling all claims on behalf of contract operator of offshore production platform.
• Defense of insurers in Louisiana Legacy Oilfield Pollution claims and Louisiana coastal erosion suits.
• Arbitration of oilfield services company under international contractual indemnity dispute with arbitration in London, England.
• Mr. Clark spent two weeks in an arbitration proceeding defending a Singapore based shipbuilder with regard to alleged defects in workboats built in a Mexico shipyard. Arbitration took place in Houston, Texas.
• Defense of pipeline construction company in failing to properly place pipeline in right of way.
• Defense of dive boat operator in wrongful death of diver decommissioning an offshore platform.
• Defense of oil tool supplier who allegedly leased defective drill pipe causing loss of hole.
• Defense of pipeline construction company in releasing livestock.
• Defense of oil transportation company that allegedly placed reclaimed crude oil into pipeline causing millions of dollars of damage to Corpus Christi refinery.
• Defense of oil field services company that allegedly failed to properly maintain offshore oil derrick resulting in explosion.
• Defense of drilling contractor concerning well blowout and resulting pollution damage.
  
• Defense of multiple companies in accidents involving sand trucks and water trucks in the Permian Basin area of West Texas.
• International arbitration concerning injury to worker injured off the coast of Nigeria while working aboard a floating derrick.
• Defense of oil and gas company whose water disposal pipeline ruptured killing a worker.
• Defense of oil and gas company in a blowout which caused multiple injuries.
• Defense of coil tubing contractor who lost tools downhole.
• Defense of excess insurer in death of worker who was struck by a large truck on well site in West Virginia.
• Defense of oilfield services operator and company man in injury on oil derrick in South Texas.
• Defense of oilfield producer in wrongful death case of a pipeline worker.
• Defense of nipple up service provider in pressure control matter involving the release of gas causing flaring which burned drill hands.
• Defense of oilfield services company in trucking accident resulting in significant traumatic brain injury to Plaintiff.
• Defense of oilfield services company in shooting of a worker by a terrorist in Nigeria.
• Defense of oilfield services company in slip and fall injury which occurred on semi-submersible vessel off the coast of Israel.

Environmental

Environmental Casualty

Mr. Clark has over 25 years of experience practicing law with at least 15 of those years of experience involving environmental practice. Mr. Clark’s representation of clients in environmental matters has stemmed from his work in the onshore and offshore oil and gas industry. His work involves pollution caused by oil well blowouts, pipeline spills, and vessel accidents that result in the spill of pollutants into the waters and tributaries along the Gulf Coast.

Mr. Clark’s experience spans both clean-up and restoration of polluted land and water as well as the defense of claims for property damage and bodily injury caused by pollutants. In the course of his practice, he has dealt with both the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality and the Texas Commission of Environmental Quality, as well as dealing with pollution and clean up through the Texas Railroad Commission.

Mr. Clark has represented pipeline construction companies in oil spills, the largest of which was a release of 12,000 barrels of crude from the Longhorn Pipeline. Mr. Clark has lead clients through the emergency response, clean up, restoration, and closure of polluted sites.

Mr. Clark has also defended his clients in numerous pollution-related casualty claims. Those claims include bodily injury from exposure to pollutants, property damage caused by seepage from unlined earthen pits, the leakage of fuel from underground storage tanks at retail gasoline establishments, property damage claims in Louisiana legacy oilfield disputes, and defense of insurers in the Louisiana Coastal Erosion Litigation. Mr. Clark has also defended his clients in cases involving exposure to naturally occurring radioactive materials attached to drill pipe as well as exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB), benzene, asbestos, silica, and other toxic substances.

Mr. Clark has also defended marine interests in the release of pollutants into the Mississippi River, the Gulf of Mexico, and the ports and harbors along the Gulf Coast. His representation has included advising of clean up procedures under the Clean Water Act as well as the defense of claims brought against his clients pursuant to the Oil Pollution Act of 1990. Such claims have involved mass sniffer claims as well as economic losses from affected business interests.

Mr. Clark was also involved in the Deep Water Horizon litigation through the defense of various claims brought by workers aboard the vessel and injuries to clean up workers claiming exposure to toxic substances. Mr. Clark also served as excess monitoring counsel for insurers of Transocean.

Environmental Insurance Coverage

Mr. Clark has also represented insurance carriers in several insurance coverage related issues. Generally, his representation has involved the application of the total pollution exclusion found in domestic CGL policies. His work has also led him to litigate pollution buyback endorsements which provide coverage for sudden and accidental pollution incidents which are discovered within thirty days and reported to the carrier within sixty days. His representation was performed both in Texas and Louisiana.

Mr. Clark was one of the lead attorneys in Lodwick v. Chevron USA, Cause 48312 (La. App. 2^nd Circuit, 2013) 126 So.3^rd 544. Lodwick was the first case in Louisiana to examine sudden and accidental pollution buyback endorsements in the context of the duty to defend. The court distinguished the buyback endorsement from the absolute pollution exclusion, and strictly construed the endorsement to require actual sudden and accidental release of pollutants to trigger the duty to defend. Today Lodwick is the seminal case in Louisiana with regard to the duty to defend in pollution-related incidents.

Mr. Clark was also involved in the defense of an insurer in a major oil spill on the Mississippi River. In Gabarick vs. Lauren Maritime (America), Inc. 650 F.3d 545 (5^th Cir. 2011). Mr. Clark defended a major insurer in the application of the SP-23 Protection and Indemnity Form which was attached to a modified version of American Institute Hull Clauses. The issue was whether the defenses costs eroded the $1,000,000 limit under the P&I cover. The court ruled favorably for Mr. Clark’s client that in fact the policy was eroded by the payment of defense costs. The matter also involved indemnity and contribution disputes related to sniffer claims and economic loss claims under OPA 90.

Employment

Employment Law

Mr. Clark has over 25 years of experience practicing law with at least 22 of those years of experience involving various representation of his clients with regard to employment-related matters. Mr. Clark’s representation of clients with employment matters has been varied. His employment experience includes:

1. Defending Employers in Wage Claims – These disputes arise from circumstances in which an employee is terminated, and has claims for sales commissions which are not timely paid following the employee’s termination. Mr. Clark has defended clients in at least a dozen such claims.
2. Representing Employers in EEOC Disputes – Mr. Clark has defended employers in EEOC disputes and subsequent litigation related to sexual harassment as well as racial and gender discrimination claims.
3. Drafting of Employment Contracts – Mr. Clark has assisted in the drafting of employment contracts primarily focused on issues related to preserving confidentiality as well as post-employment covenants.
4. Enforcement of Covenants Not to Compete – Mr. Clark has defended and prosecuted on behalf of clients with regard to post-employment covenants.
5. Criminal Investigations and White Collar Defense – Mr. Clark, a former prosecutor and criminal defense attorney, has represented clients and employees of his clients in SEC investigations as well as criminal investigations related to financial transactions which allegedly ran afoul of tax laws, price-fixing arrangements and the like. Mr. Clark has also represented employees of his clients by presenting them before U.S. Attorneys, FBI, District Attorneys, the Securities and Exchange Commission and preparing them for testimony as witnesses in criminal matters.
6. ERISA and Voluntary Comp Disputes – Mr. Clark has represented his clients in disputes with regard to ERISA benefits owed to employees under ERISA plans designed for employers in Texas who are non-subscribers under the Texas Workers Compensation Act. For clients with international employees, Mr. Clark has defended his clients in Voluntary Compensation disputes.
7. Advising – Mr. Clark has advised his clients on the termination of employees as well as drafting of separation agreements with terminated employees.
8. Arbitration disputes – Mr. Clark has defended his clients in arbitrations before the American Arbitration Association with disputes related to damages, employee benefits and wages typically related to employment of overseas employees for work done in oil and gas fields in foreign territories.