Reid Collins Defeats Second Attempt to Dismiss $100 Million Fraud and Trade Secrets Suit
On August 7, 2019, Reid Collins defeated a second attempt by Pearl Energy and AVAD to dismiss a $100 million case involving claims for fraud and theft of trade secrets. The suit asserts that despite entering into a non-disclosure agreement, the defendants misused the plaintiffs’ trade secrets and confidential information in order to short-circuit the due-diligence and bid process for an oil and gas property, ultimately purchasing it out from under the plaintiffs.
In August 2018, Reid Collins successfully defeated a motion to dismiss the claims under the TCPA -Texas’s Anti-SLAPP legislation – brought by defendants Billy Quinn, Pearl Energy Investment Management, LLC., Pearl Energy Investments, L.P., and Pearl’s portfolio company AVAD Energy Partners, LLC. The defendants then appealed the trial court’s ruling to the Dallas Court of Appeals. The Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court’s decision, holding that the TCPA does not apply to plaintiffs’ claims. Having now survived two attempts at dismissal, all of the claims will now proceed to discovery.
Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.