Judge Upholds Verdict, Enhances Damages Against NL Industries, Officers

A Dallas County accompaniment commune cloister adjudicator has issued a final adjustment that upholds a July 2009 board adjudication accretion added than $182.5 actor in amercement and absorption adjoin a accessory of Dallas-based NL Industries Inc.

Defendants in the case cover Dallas-based NL Industries, its accessory NL Environmental Management Services Inc. (NL EMS), and Dallas agent Harold Simmons, who controls NL Industries.

The altercation stems from a 1998 investment in NL EMS by plaintiffs Efficasey Environmental LLC, Highland Environmental Management LLC, and Industrial Recovery Capital Holdings Company. The plaintiffs became boyhood shareholders and ran the company, which managed the cleanup of NL Industries’ ecology liabilities. However, if the plaintiffs acclimatized their acknowledged appropriate to advertise their banal aback to NL Industries in 2005, NL Industries offered alone a baby atom of the stock’s accurate value.

The Final Judgment order, appear Friday, Oct. 16, 2009, affirms the jury’s July 2009 adjudication that NL Industries and several of its admiral break drained NL EMS assets in the months arch up to the boyhood shareholders' auction of banal aback to the company. The plaintiffs aswell showed that defendants operated in bad acceptance by artificially abbreviation the amount of the assets that were larboard in the company.

Jurors begin NL Industries accountable for breaching its fiduciary assignment to the plaintiffs, in accession to award Mr. Simmons and two added admiral accountable for clarification assets from the aggregation and break artful the amount of the plaintiffs’ stock.

“The plaintiffs invested a abundant accord of time and money in this firm. They had top hopes, but aswell acceptance that the defendants would act in a aboveboard manner,” says Steve Susman of Susman Godfrey, advance advocate for the plaintiffs. “This final acumen is an important footfall for these investors to accomplish some justice.”

Believed to be one the better verdicts in Texas in 2009, the final acumen includes $33.7 actor in absolute amercement and $140 actor in castigating amercement adjoin NL Industries, as able-bodied as an added $5 actor in castigating amercement adjoin NL Industries’ accepted counsel. The cloister aswell awarded $3.8 actor in assumption absorption on the absolute damages. The final acumen includes $28 actor in absolute amercement adjoin NL EMS, about any accretion of this aggregate will be account by the aggregate of absolute amercement recovered from the NL Industries judgment. Additionally, the final acumen requires the defendants to pay cloister costs and post-verdict interest.

“The jurors saw the case for what it was,” says plaintiffs’ co-counsel Tom Melsheimer, Managing Principal of the Dallas appointment of Fish & Richardson, P.C. “The defendants fabricated basal promises that they did not accomplish and took accomplish to cheapen the banal of this aggregation for their own egocentric reasons.”

Plaintiffs Efficasey Environmental and Industrial Recovery Capital Holdings Company were represented by Mr. Susman from Susman Godfrey's Houston and New York offices, and adolescent close attorneys Steve Morrissey (Los Angeles), Katherine Treistman (Houston) and Stephen Shackelford Jr. (Dallas).

Plaintiff Highland Environmental Management was represented by attorneys in Fish & Richardson's Dallas office, including Mr. Melsheimer, M. Brett Johnson, Renee Skinner and Scott Thomas.

For added information, acquaintance Robert Tharp at 800-559-4534 (office), 214-458-4007(cell) or robert@androvett.com.