David Hernandez is a seasoned trial attorney with dozens of tried cases across a range of industries. He represents public and private companies in complex commercial disputes, up-stream oil & gas matters, commercial real estate disputes, construction defect claims, products liability, intellectual property, transportation claims, probate matters, personal injury and wrongful death claims.

David believes that litigation success is built on frequent client communication to ensure clear objectives and an efficient strategy for achieving them.

His practice also includes representing the interests of national and international clients, including serving as outside general counsel for many companies. As former in-house counsel, he has uncommon breadth of experience managing and resolving complex commercial, corporate and intellectual property matters. An advocate and counselor, David assesses the business side of issues and guides his clients through negotiating commercial and real estate transactions, corporate governance needs, compliance assurance, risk management, claims resolution and employment matters.

David spent years as in-house counsel for one of North America’s largest manufacturers and producers of welded and seamless pipe and premium connections for the oil country tubular goods sector. This provides him with a deep understanding of the oil and gas industry and the exploration and production process, including knowledge of casing and tubing metallurgy and string design, as well as drilling and completions techniques and technologies. As a result, he is instrumental in representing clients in oil field disputes, including well failures and injuries, field service claims and an array of claims related to steel pipe and valve manufacturing defects. 

Honors

  • Top Attorneys in Texas, Texas Monthly 2019 – present

Professional & Civic Involvement

  • Texas State Bar
    • Oil & Gas Section
    • Litigation Section
    • Corporate Counsel Section
    • Hispanic Issues Section

Languages

  • Spanish

Practice Highlights

Representative Matters

  • Successfully defended a European pipe manufacturer in a complex multi-party products liability lawsuit brought by a leading E&P company for damages sustained in a downhole casing failure. Before experts were designated, metallurgically proved that the pipe in question was not – and could not have been – manufactured by the client. As a result, the client was dismissed from the suit.
  • Defended a coupling manufacturer in a complex multi-party products liability lawsuit brought by an E&P company for damages sustained in a downhole casing failure. Successfully resolved the case when the credible evidence indicated that the couplings were manufactured to design specifications, without a manufacturing defect – and that the operators use of P110 in a H2S rich environment was problematic.
  • Defended a construction contractor to favorable resolution against condominium owners’ association’s claims for multi-million dollars in damages alleging DTPA violations, fraud, misrepresentation, breach of contract, violations of Texas statutes and attempts to obtain personal liability of a corporate officer.
  • Successfully prosecuted and tried a client’s construction defect claims against contractor obtaining a favorable verdict, damages and attorneys’ fees.
  • Successfully defended a prominent timber company in a partition suit, and prevailed, among other claims, against the partition of the acreage in kind.
  • Defended a condominium owner’s association in a complex Trespass to Try Title and Partition suit. This resulted in a resolution where the plaintiff paid the defendant condominium owners a significant settlement amount and entered into various agreements related to the future relationship of the parties as it pertained to the partition, re-platting, drainage and use of utilities.
  • Obtained successful summary judgment, disposing of all claims in the defense of a Houston oil refinery against claims brought by its contractor’s employees for injuries sustained from an explosion and resulting fire that occurred during the construction of a renovation project. 
  • Represented various construction contractors in wrongful death claims, alleging a myriad of claims, including insufficient training, improper equipment, no safety culture and poor supervision/management through diligent discovery, extensive client preparation and obtaining favorable witness and expert testimony. This resulted in our ability to posture each of those lawsuits for a favorable resolution based on the state of the credible evidence on the issues of liability and/or damages.

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