Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani’s Hartford, Connecticut, and Dallas offices recently secured a complete defense judgment and recovery of attorney’s fees and costs in an arbitration on behalf of a longtime client, concluding a dispute that lasted several years and traversed multiple jurisdictions.
The dispute initially arose in Texas state court, and almost immediately, the claimant began pursuing the matter aggressively, a pattern that continued until the day judgment was entered in GRSM’s client’s favor. GRSM’s team mounted a strong defense, achieving an early success in compelling mandatory arbitration.
At arbitration, the claimant advanced multiple theories of liability against GRSM’s client, including claims which would have entitled the claimant to punitive damages, attorney’s fees, and other exemplary damages that would have reached a significant six-figure award, if successful. These claims arose from a dispute regarding the performance of equipment installed at the claimant’s property and alleged misrepresentations that the claimant believed were made to him in the course of the sale of the equipment.
The GRSM team crafted a comprehensive strategy to defend the claims, which started with an analysis of the claimant’s historical utility usage prior to the sale, undercutting his sales-related claims, continued with an expert-guided evaluation of the claimant’s usage and status of the equipment post-installation, and culminated in an arbitration strategy that used the investigative findings to reveal the underlying falsehood of the claimant’s allegations via the claimant’s own testimony. As the prevailing party at the arbitration, GRSM’s client was entitled to recover its attorney’s fees, which GRSM is now actively pursuing on its client’s behalf.
GRSM Partner Cullen Guilmartin, Partner Bob Bragalone, and Associate Lailah Elliot each conducted direct examination of one or more witnesses at the arbitration hearing, supported by extensive pre- and post-arbitration briefing prepared by Associate Gabe D’Antonio. As the dispute lasted several years, GRSM’s team received support from attorneys in the Hartford and Dallas offices, as well as the exceptional assistance of Paralegals Mubera Becirovic and Feruza Gasztold and Legal Assistants Denise Houser and Codi Mitchell.