Deanna represents clients in complex commercial litigation and dispute resolution matters, including contract and license disputes, tort claims, construction litigation, fiduciary relations issues, insurance coverage, royalty disputes, environmental claims, administrative agency actions, and alleged statutory violations. She represents energy and construction companies, financial institutions, academic institutions, and individual officers and directors. Deanna manages the entire litigation process, from pre-dispute analysis through trial advocacy and appeals.

Deanna is skilled in preparing witnesses for testimony and navigating substantial and technical discovery challenges.

Deanna regularly counsels clients as a litigation representative on corporate deals, as well as assists clients in pre-litigation claim evaluation and dispute avoidance.

• Regularly assists midstream companies in obtaining approval to cease pipeline services from the Texas Railroad Commission.
• Frequently represents companies, as well as officers and directors, in inter-company disputes, fiduciary duty claims, earn-out and buy-out issues, and ownership disputes.
• Regularly assists clients as a litigation representative on corporate deals.
• Represents numerous natural gas marketers in class action, contractual, and AG action suits claiming alleged damages resulting from Winter Storm Uri.
• Represented the owner of an LNG Facility on Elba Island, Georgia, against a contractor for claims relating to construction delays, obtaining a settlement for the owner.
• Obtained summary judgment dismissing an insurance company in complex coverage litigation. The firm’s client was the only defendant (out of more than a dozen) that was dismissed before trial.
• Obtained summary judgment dismissing a financial institution against breach of fiduciary duty and negligence claims, including the Fifth Circuit adopting the novel holding in the district judge’s opinion.
• Trial counsel for the nonprofit owner of an affordable housing project in San Antonio, Texas, against claims related to a surplus cash note. Following a bench trial, a verdict was rendered for the nonprofit on all claims, and the client was awarded nearly $1,000,000 in attorneys fees.
• Obtained a settlement in favor of a contractor in a dispute with multiple subcontractors regarding delay and performance claims.
• Represented a midstream company in a dispute regarding the termination of a gathering agreement.
• Obtained the dismissal for an E&P oil company in a suit alleging discrimination in payment of royalties.
• Obtained a settlement in favor of academic institutions in a claim for underpayment pursuant to a patent licensing agreement.
• Represented an EPC contractor in a dispute regarding payment of remediation costs.
• Served as lead counsel for a landowner in a real estate lease dispute, obtaining summary judgment requiring specific performance for the landowner.
• Represented a construction company in an AAA arbitration hearing relating to a joint venture and fiduciary duty dispute.
• Defended the owner of an NGL storage facility in a suit by the state attorney general’s office environmental regulatory agency involving alleged unauthorized and unpermitted air emissions from the facility associated with a plant explosion.
• Obtained summary judgment for a property owner against a claim that the owner breached an informal fiduciary duty to the lender.
• Trial counsel for a fabrication subcontractor in their claim for several million dollars of disputed change orders, obtaining a verdict in favor of the client and the first finding of a non-governmental cardinal change in Texas.
• Obtained a multimillion-dollar pre-trial settlement for an oil and gas company alleging breach of contract and negligence claims.
• Represented a major midstream pipeline company throughout the condemnation process.
• Assisted in securing a verdict in a bench trial for an industrial services company in a breach of representation and warranty matter with serious environmental implications, including claims involving alleged non-compliant solid waste management and disposal, as well as permit compliance and compliance with applicable state solid waste rules.

• The Best Lawyers in America® Ones to Watch, Commercial Litigation, Construction Law, Environmental Law (2022-2023)
• Super Lawyers® Texas Rising Star, Business Litigation (2023-2024)