Commercial Litigation
As a go-to litigation team for leading businesses in the Rocky Mountains and across the nation, Davis Graham trial lawyers regularly handle and successfully resolve complex and sophisticated business disputes. Our trial attorneys are battle tested. We try state and federal, civil and criminal cases for clients of all sizes before juries, courts, arbitrators, and administrative hearings officers – in Colorado and throughout the country.
Clients frequently entrust Davis Graham trial attorneys with high-stakes and high-value business disputes across a range of industries and subject matters, including energy and natural resources, environmental/toxic tort, catastrophic personal injury, technology and telecommunications, white collar defense and investigations, property rights, securities, bankruptcy, and intellectual property. With a team of more than 40 trial lawyers, clients benefit from our bench strength and the specialized knowledge each individual attorney carries.
Davis Graham trial teams combine the sophistication and expertise usually only found at much larger firms with the adaptiveness and efficiency-mindset gained from serving clients of all sizes on cases across a range of values. Far different than the one-size-fits-all approach found in many trial practices, Davis Graham teams develop with their clients a strategic approach tailored to each case to maximize the clients’ business objectives. The Davis Graham litigation team is frequently recognized for its trial achievements and has been ranked as a top commercial litigation team in Colorado by Chambers & Partners for 20 years. Over 90% of Davis Graham trial partners have been recognized and honored for their excellence with rankings in Chambers & Partners, Benchmark Litigation, Colorado Super Lawyers, or Best Lawyers in America.
Representative Experience
- Represented an independent energy company in a putative class action brought on behalf of royalty owners seeking the recovery of royalties on all gas flared from North Dakota wells. We served as lead counsel of a joint defense group in approximately 10 related cases making similar allegations against all major North Dakota producers. All of these cases were dismissed.
- Obtained a complete defense verdict for a major manufacturing company after a 10-day jury trial in U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado against allegations of design and warning defects resulting in traumatic brain injury and claimed damages of $47 million.
- Regularly handle environmental and natural resources claims valued in excess of $100 million for several major oil and gas companies.
- Represented two of the top five gold producers in the world in a dispute against a global engineering firm that had been engaged to provide engineering and related professional services as part of a $100 million project to design and construct a high-grade ore processing mill in Colorado. After a three-week arbitration hearing that included testimony from more than 20 witnesses, numerous technical experts, and 250 exhibits, the arbitrators issued an award affirming the claims brought by the gold producers.
- Led defense team in 13-year lawsuit brought by over 100 landowners claiming their properties had been contaminated by historical smelter operations. Davis Graham developed a novel defense to these common-law claims based on the federal CERCLA statute. Davis Graham argued this defense without success four times in lower courts, including the Montana Supreme Court but convinced the United States Supreme Court, which reversed the lower courts and upheld in large part the CERCLA based defense developed by Davis Graham.
- Defended a company facing multi-million-dollar damage claims by a group of Nevada property owners who claimed their land and water had been contaminated by the company’s Superfund site. After a three-week trial in federal court, the jury returned a complete defense verdict.
- Brought a lawsuit on behalf of our client against the United States concerning the past and future costs of environmental cleanup at four phosphate mines. Cleanup costs were estimated in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Davis Graham successfully obtained summary judgment on the liability of the government on all asserted grounds—CERCLA owner, operator, and arranger—at all four sites.
- Obtained a $309 million judgment for a natural gas production company in dispute regarding the design and construction of a water treatment facility in West Virginia.
- Obtained a $96 million jury judgment for a natural gas production company in a contract dispute, and successfully defended judgment on appeal.
- Successfully defended major public service company in one of the largest personal injury cases tried in Denver District Court in recent history. Case arose from third-party contractor-caused explosion, resulting in one death, other injuries, and property damage. Plaintiffs requested $700 million in compensatory and punitive damages. Jury returned that public service company liable for only $2.2 million in damages.
- Represented a private exploration company, resulting in one of the top five jury verdicts in the state in 2021 in lawsuit related to damaged oil and gas well drilled by well servicing company. Jury rejected well servicing company’s argument, awarding Plaintiffs $15 million in cost of drilling well and attorney’s fees. Davis Graham successfully prevailed in initial appeal.
- Davis Graham serves as national coordinating counsel for a major hospitality services company for its portfolio of litigation stemming from its Host Liability Insurance program. Davis Graham oversees and coordinates dozens of cases at any given time in which our client has been named as a defendant for accidents and injuries that have occurred on or around a property booked through the online marketplace platform.
