Education & Clerkship

  • J.D., summa cum laude, Pepperdine University School of Law (2005)
  • B.A., summa cum laude, University of Arkansas at Little Rock
  • Law Clerk to the Hon. Diarmuid F. O’Scannlain, United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, 2005-06

Biography

Garland “Land” Murphy loves finding the right answer for his clients. He has a knack for quickly identifying a dispute’s key questions and then answering those questions efficiently. Land devotes to his clients the same dogged determination and attention to detail that allowed him to graduate as the valedictorian of his law school class and to receive the highest score on the February 2007 Texas bar exam.

Land is dedicated to obtaining the same exceptional results for his clients from pre-suit dispute resolution through trial and to final appeal. And Land has obtained outstanding results for his clients through jury trials, arbitrations, administrative proceedings, and appeals, with substantial experience representing clients in the energy industry and in trade secret and non-compete cases.

Representative Matters

  • BPX Operating v. Crimson Exporation.  Won jury verdict and $3.3 million judgment for operator in dispute over unpaid joint interest billings.  Affirmed on appeal.
  • Vitol America v. Targa Channelview.  Won $158 million judgment for Vitol against Targa after a 19-day state court bench trial, believed to be the longest Zoom trial to date in Texas.  The case arose out of Targa’s failure to reimburse Vitol’s prepayments when Vitol terminated the contract for Targa’s failure to meet Startup of a splitter facility.  Affirmed on appeal.
  • Southbrook Development v. Diversified Site-Work.  Secured jury verdict and $6.48 million judgment for property owner client in case about theft of property and breach of a settlement agreement.
  • Successfully defeated request for judicially created non-compete after 5-day temporary injunction hearing for artificial lift company client.
  • Stroud Production v. Hosford.  Defended exploration and production company in case alleging intentional washout of overriding royalty interest, securing reversal of jury verdict in court of appeals.
  • Green Bank v. Petrohawk.  Defeated summary judgment on claim for second payment of oilfield vendor’s invoices based on factoring agreement with bank, resulting in dismissal of suit.
  • Secured anti-SLAPP dismissal of defamation and business disparagement suit against finance executive who publicized collusion settlement between plaintiff and Texas attorney general.
 

Admissions

  • State Bar of Texas
  • State Bar of Arkansas
  • State Bar of California
  • United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
  • United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas
  • United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas
  • United States District Court for the Western District of Texas
  • United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas
  • United States District Court for Western District of Arkansas
  • United States District Court for Colorado
  • United States District Court for the Central District of California
  • United States District Court for the Northern District of California
  • United States District Court for the Southern District of California

SKV Wins Appeal Affirming Multi-Million Dollar Judgment for BPX Energy in Oil and Gas Contract Dispute

The 14th Court of Appeals unanimously affirmed SKV client BPX Energy’s multi-million dollar judgment against Crimson Exploration Operating, Inc. in a long-running dispute over drilling costs Crimson agreed to pay for a well drilled in 2012.  The trial court had entered judgment for BPX Energy subsidiary BPX Operating Company after a five-day trial in 2019, and ...

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Michelle Stratton Argues Contract Dispute in the Texas Supreme Court

On February 2, SKV counsel Michelle Stratton argued on behalf of Respondent Baylor Miraca Genetics Laboratories in the Supreme Court of Texas.   In 2018, Brandon Perthuis sued Baylor Genetics, his former employer, for breach of contract, alleging that Baylor Genetics owed him over $1.5 million in sales commissions on sales that Baylor Genetics made after Perthuis ...

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SKV Secures $147M Victory in Texas State Court

Following a five-week bench trial conducted entirely on Zoom, on October 15, 2020, the 80th Judicial District Court of Harris County, Judge Larry Weiman presiding, found that Defendant Targa Channelview LLC, a subsidiary of Targa Resources Co., breached its agreement with Plaintiff Vitol Americas Corp. by failing to return $129 million in prepayments.   On December 27, ...

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