J. W. Beverly

Representative Commercial Litigation Matters

• Obtained a take nothing judgment against plaintiffs after trial for a company president accused of embezzling more than $7 million from a Texas company.
• Obtained a $1 million judgment after trial for a general contractor who was not paid on a major commercial industrial project.
• Obtained a judgment after a jury trial for a client against a supplier who delayed the client’s performance.
• Obtained a judgment against a construction contractor who failed to perform as promised to the client.
• Obtained a judgment after a bench trial for a concrete contractor who was not paid for work performed.
• Negotiated a settlement for a contractor who was not paid for concrete construction work.
• Negotiated favorable settlements for several homeowners in  construction defect cases.
• Obtained a dismissal of claims for harassment, trespass, assault and intentional infliction of emotional distress asserted against a group of church members.
• Negotiated a release in a suit to foreclose a mechanic’s and material men’s lien on a multi-million dollar project.
• Obtained a trial court ruling that the client was a common-law spouse entitling her to survivor’s benefits.
• Negotiated a take nothing settlement for a motel owner sued by a municipality for past-due hotel occupancy taxes.
• Obtained, as co-counsel a $4.5 million jury verdict in a real estate fraud case.
• Defended a motel owner accused of operating a public nuisance. The case was settled post-trial.
• Represented a co-generation plant owner against a claim for overcharges.
• Represented a distributor who was terminated by a European manufacturer.
• Represented parents in a wrongful death action.
• Obtained a settlement in the amount of twice the policy limits for a homeowner whose insurance company refused to pay after a fire destroyed her home claiming that the fire was intentionally set.
• Represented  a client who had been discriminated against and underpaid on the basis of sex.
• Obtained a policy limits settlement for a client injured in an automobile collision.
• Obtained a judgment in a bench trial based on delay damages for a subcontractor against a general contractor who unreasonably delayed the client’s performance.

Other Representative Matters

• Obtaining a reversal and render of a trial court’s judgment that a mineral property lien against the client’s mineral property was valid.
• Obtaining a reversal of a trial court judgment awarding $185,000 for the client’s breach of an executory contract to sell real property.
• Successfully obtaining an appellate ruling affirming a trial court judgment that the defendant’s employee had apparent authority to execute the contract.
• Obtaining an appellate reversal of the trial court’s dismissal, based on the ecclesiastical doctrine, of a client’s suit seeking inspection of the books and records of his church under the inspection rights provision of the Texas Non-Profit Corporation Act. This was a case of first impression in Texas.
• Successfully defending on appeal a trial court order denying a motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction in a dispute between cell phone service providers.
• Successfully defending on appeal a federal district court’s dismissal of lawsuit for failure to state a claim upon which relief could be granted.
• Successfully obtaining an appellate ruling affirming a trial court summary judgment against a property owner’s association that sued the developer for violation of deed restrictions.
• Successfully defending on appeal a trial court judgment against a claim that a new trial was improperly ordered and that the trial court lacked personal jurisdiction over the defendant
• Successfully defending on appeal a trial court judgment after the grant of a new trial against a claim that the trial court judge should have been recused from granting a new trial.
• Obtaining an appellate reversal of a trial court ruling that the City of Houston’s Comprehensive Urban Rehabilitation and Building Standards were unconstitutional and overturning a $340,000 verdict against the City.
• Obtaining an appellate ruling that a property owner had not waived trial court review of the appraisal district’s excessive ad valorem tax appraisal.
• Successfully defending on appeal a judgment ordering the partition by sale of several multi-million dollar commercial properties.
• Obtaining a reversal of a summary judgment against a widow based on a claim that she could not sue on behalf of her late husband to recover money due under a contract. This was a case of first impression interpreting the rights of surviving spouses under Texas law.
• Obtaining a writ of mandamus from the Texas Supreme Court to reinstate his client as a candidate on a primary election ballot.
• Obtaining a reversal from the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals of a trial court decision dismissing a correction of inventorship claim in a patent case based on a claim of laches.

• Obtained a $30,000 settlement for a client whose broker placed his retirement funds in unsuitable investments.
• Obtained a $35,000 settlement for a client whose broker induced him into questionable transactions.
• Obtained a $100,000 settlement for the estate of a client who passed away before arbitration based on claims for unsuitable investments and churning.
• Obtained a $75,000 settlement for a client whose stockbroker engaged in unauthorized trading and churning.
• Obtained a $100,000 recovery for a client whose stockbroker encouraged excessive margin balances and placed the majority of the client’s account in one speculative stock.
• Obtained a $135,000 judgment against an unregistered investment advisor who lost all of the client’s funds.
• Negotiated a $150,000 settlement prior to filing an arbitration claim for a client whose stockbroker placed the client in unsuitable investments and generated excessive commissions through churning of the account.
• Negotiated a $250,000 settlement prior to filing an arbitration claim for a client whose stockbroker engaged in churning, and unauthorized trading.
• Obtained a $300,000 settlement for a client whose stockbroker engaged in churning, made unauthorized investments and placed the client in unsuitable investments.
• Obtained a $550,000 recovery for a client defrauded by his stockbroker through an extensive churning scheme that placed the client’s retirement funds in unsuitable investments and generated excessive commissions for the broker.