Craig Ledet is a partner in King & Spalding’s Houston Litigation Practice Group. His practice focuses primarily on construction, engineering defect, environmental and mass tort litigation, although he has also handled various oil and gas and commercial matters. He has practiced before federal and state courts across the country, as well as domestic and international arbitration panels. Representative matters include:
Construction
- Representing Golden Pass LNG Terminal, LLC, a joint venture comprised of affiliates of ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, and Qatar Petroleum, in a dispute with its general contractor over Hurricane Ike-related construction cost increases. Claims and counterclaims in the AAA arbitration exceeded $225 million. The case settled on favorable terms;
- Representing Chevron in a AAA construction arbitration against an engineering and construction firm that provided defective mooring components for an offshore production facility located in the Gulf of Mexico, with the result being a substantial delay in project completion and more than $500 million in estimated damages. The case settled on favorable terms;
- Representing Cemex Cement of Texas, Inc. in a lawsuit in Harris County, Texas against its general contractor over construction cost overruns arising from the construction of a new cement production facility. The case settled on favorable terms;
- Representing the owner of a power plant in Osceola, Arkansas in defense of force majeure claims brought by its EPC Contractor and exceeding $12 million;
- Representing Kellogg Brown & Root in the defense of delay and productivity damage claims brought by a subcontractor on a paper mill construction project in Big Island, Virginia. At the conclusion of the two week long trial, the subcontractor asked for more than $2 million, but the jury returned a complete defense verdict, including awarding more than $800,000 to Kellogg Brown & Root on its counterclaim;
- Representing an LNG terminal owner in the defense of Hurricane Ike-related force majeure claims brought by its general contractor and totaling approximately $8 million;
- Representing Kellogg Brown & Root in a AAA arbitration in which the client sought to recover nearly $3 million owed for the completion of a chloralkali plant construction project in Geismar, Louisiana. The case was settled on favorable terms;
- Representing Kellogg Brown & Root in the defense of claims by the roofing subcontractor for the construction of Minute Maid Park who alleged that project delays and interferences resulted in increased construction costs. The case was settled on favorable terms;
- Representing Kellogg Brown & Root in the defense of claims by a copper mine owner who sought reimbursement of more than $20 million of cost overruns that it claimed were the result of construction inefficiencies on the cost reimbursable project. The case was settled on favorable terms;
- Representing Rangen, Inc. in the defense of construction damages claims brought by its general contractor and subcontractor in connection with the construction of an expansion to its aquatic feed manufacturing facility. At the conclusion of a two-week trial in Brazoria County, Texas, the jury returned a verdict rejecting the claims of the contractors and finding that Rangen was owed damages for construction delay and unfinished work;
- Representing Exterran Kazakhstan in a construction delay and cost dispute with the general contractor on a gas processing project in Kazakhstan;
- Representing Exterran Energy Solutions in a construction costs dispute with the owner of a gas processing facility in Oklahoma;
- Representing a major oil company in a construction dispute with a national oil company operating in Africa and arising from the construction of a large onshore oil and gas infrastructure project; and
- Representing the owners of a coal fired power plant in central Texas in connection with construction delays and associated costs resulting from severe damage to the boiler during commissioning.
Engineering Defect
- Representing Kellogg Brown & Root in the defense of engineering defect claims brought by a chemical plant owner following the explosion of the owner’s phenol plant in Theodore, Alabama. The case was arbitrated for a week in London under ICC rules. Plaintiffs sought nearly $20 million from a joint venture comprised of Kellogg Brown & Root and another engineering company. After the hearing, the case was settled with Kellogg Brown & Root paying nothing;
- Representing M. W. Kellogg in the defense of engineering defect claims brought by a group of plaintiffs who were severely burned in a plastics plant explosion and fire in Pasadena, Texas. The case was tried in Harris County, Texas for nearly six weeks. The Plaintiffs sought nearly $130 million, but the jury returned a complete defense verdict;
- Representing Kellogg Brown & Root in the defense of engineering defect claims brought by a group of plaintiffs claiming to have suffered personal injuries during an ethylene plant explosion in Point Comfort, Texas. The case was tried in Calhoun County, Texas for four weeks. Plaintiffs sought nearly $4 million, but the jury returned a complete defense verdict; and
- Representing a valve manufacturer defending against allegations that a defective valve caused the rupture of a high pressure steam line in a power plant that resulted in two deaths, one serious burn injury and $15 million in property damage. The case was tried to a jury in Platte County, Missouri and resulted in a favorable verdict.
Environmental and Other Torts
- Representing Occidental in the defense of a putative class action brought on behalf of more than 3000 putative class members who live, work or go to school in Bossier City, Louisiana and claim to have suffered personal injuries and property damage from alleged exposure to residual refinery contamination. The Court refused to certify a class;
- Representing Kellogg Brown & Root in the defense of breach of fiduciary duty and theft of trade secret allegations made by an industrial turbine cleaning subcontractor. The case was tried to a jury for a week in Mobile, Alabama. Plaintiffs sought more than $23 million, but the jury returned a complete defense verdict;
- Representing Kellogg Brown & Root in a wrongful death lawsuit brought by the surviving family members of a United States Army soldier who was electrocuted while serving in Iraq. The plaintiffs alleged that Kellogg Brown & Root failed to properly ground the electrical equipment at issue. The case was dismissed before trial;
- Representing Chevron in the defense of a docket of more than forty legacy oilfield contamination cases pending throughout Louisiana involving claims of soil and groundwater contamination from historical oilfield operations;
- Representing Jiffy Lube in various personal injury and wrongful death matters pending in various jurisdictions around the country and related to accidents involving vehicles serviced by the company; and
- Representing CanadianOxy Offshore Production Company in defense of groundwater contamination cases brought in Hidalgo County, Texas by more than one hundred property owners. The case was settled on favorable terms.
Recognitions
- International Who’s Who of Construction Lawyers (2011-2012)
- Guide to the World's Leading Construction Lawyers (2011)
Publications
- Proven Strategies for Effectively Handling Construction Disputes, Construction Dispute Resolution, Thomson Reuters/Aspatore (2010).
