Dykema Triumphs in High-Stakes Trial, Securing Victory for Top Gun Industrial Services

Dykema, a leading national law firm, guided three individuals from Top Gun Industrial Services, LLC, to victory in a bet-the-company lawsuit. The case centered on Dykema’s clients transitioning as employees of Neal Construction Company to Top Gun.

Dykema’s three individual clients, Johnny Patterson, Keith Carter, and Nick Aguilera, collectively worked for Neal Construction for several years before Patterson decided to launch Top Gun to provide mechanical services, such as welding and piping, to a company in the oil and gas industry with a terminal on the Houston Ship Channel. Soon after Top Gun began bidding on and winning jobs, Carter and Aguilera left Neal Construction and were hired by Top Gun. That was when Neal Construction sued the individuals and the company for breach of fiduciary duty, fraud, breach of contract, trade secret misappropriation, and conspiracy, among other business torts, sought a temporary restraining order, temporary injunction, permanent injunction, and remedies like constructive trust, disgorgement, and millions in damages.

At trial, the Dykema trial team’s position was that its clients were legally allowed to prepare to compete with their employer while still employed, as permitted under Texas law. Additionally, an employee who was in the procurement position for the company in which Top Gun was providing services testified that the decision to stop awarding work to Neal had nothing to do with Top Gun or the individual clients and the decision to give Top Gun work was based purely upon goodwill and trust earned by the defendants for more than a decade.

After more than six hours of deliberation, the jury returned a verdict finding no liability for Top Gun or the individuals under most claims and awarding Neal Construction only a nominal amount in damages. The jury also awarded Dykema conditional appellate fees on one of its counterclaims.

Following the trial, Dykema also defeated Plaintiff’s motion for entry of a judgment notwithstanding the jury verdict. The team then successfully opposed Neal Construction’s motion for a new trial and had an order signed denying the motion. Neal Construction has decided not to appeal to the Houston Court of Appeals.

The Dykema attorneys who worked on the trial team are Isaac Villarreal, Brandy Manning, Amanda Gordon, Stephanie Sepulveda, and Basil Umari.