Houston partners Barry Flynn and Laura De Santos, assisted by senior counsel Mark Thayer, along with Austin partner Ken Ferguson and associate Brad Bush, worked together to defeat an Application for Temporary Injunction.
Gordon & Rees's client is a large manufacturer and distributor of entire joint replacement parts, including knees, hips and shoulders. The client distributes its products through a series of independent distributors. The independent distributor for the U.S. Great Lakes Region sued and obtained a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) against the firm's client before Gordon & Rees was retained, alleging that it had been improperly terminated.
With the TRO already in place, De Santos and Thayer spent the 4th of July weekend organizing the facts and preparing pleadings to dismiss the TRO or alternatively revise it and increase the bond. The Gordon & Rees motion was heard on July 6, 2016, and granted to revise the TRO and make the restraint more narrow and increase the bond.
Ferguson and Bush worked on securing subpoenas to obtain documentation for the Temporary Injunction hearing from the Texas court to enforce in Illinois and Missouri. Flynn was brought in to serve as lead trial counsel at the evidentiary hearing on the Application for Temporary Injunction on July 14 which was heard before the District Court of Travis County.
After presentation of all evidence and argument of counsel during a hotly contested evidentiary hearing, the Gordon & Rees trial team defeated the Temporary Injunction in its entirety. The firm's client was then entitled to exercise its rights to terminate the distributor, which was done. The case will now proceed toward a trial on the merits under an allegation of wrongful termination.