December 12, 2022 | By McCathern Law
McCathern Frisco Partner Ty Sheaks, along with Partners Scott Becker and Jen Falk, who picked not one but two juries, won a jury verdict recently in the 439th District Court of Texas in Rockwall County after a week-long trial. McCathern’s client, Platinum Construction, is a family-owned construction company who alleged defendants stole labor by directing its workers off site to work on unrelated renovation projects while keeping them clocked in on the client’s construction projects.
The lawsuit was initially filed back in 2019, but was stayed after one of the original defendants filed for bankruptcy. In the interim, Brandon Tittle, as head of the bankruptcy section at Glast, Phillips & Murray, PC, took over as lead counsel navigating a number of bankruptcy-related matters and re-instituted and continued pursuing the claims in this civil matter.
After bringing on McCathern to co-counsel and lead the efforts for preparing for trial, McCathern’s trial team was successful in a number of key pre-trial hearings, including securing a spoliation instruction against the corporate defendant, Copper Creek Distributors, Inc., for deletion of emails and financial records.
During trial and in cross-examination of the defendants, Ty Sheaks skillfully presented the necessary evidence to the jury to show that email accounts (which defendants continually refused to even acknowledge existed) had been deleted and that financial records for the corporate defendant were also lost and/or destroyed by defendants.
After deliberations, the jury returned a verdict in Plaintiff’s favor on every claim, including confirming that defendants committed theft of services, that defendants intentionally interfered with contracts, that defendants were unjustly enriched from the stolen services, and alter-ego to hold one of the individual defendants personally liable for Copper Creek Distributors, Inc. The total damages awarded by the jury was over $675,000.00.
The jury verdict was a huge win for McCathern’s client, who was told by other well-respected trial firms this case would never have a chance.
McCathern would like to thank bankruptcy attorney Brandon J. Tittle of Glast, Phillips & Murray, PC for his dedication to the client and for bringing McCathern in to try the case and secure the win.