Garland "Land" Murphy

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.

• 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.