Commercial Litigation

David Berg has had a remarkable career.  David has been recognized for two decades or more in eight trial practice categories by Best Lawyers in America, including Bet-the-Company, Plaintiff’s Personal Injury litigation. In 2019, Lawdragon, a leading legal publication, inducted him into its Hall of Fame, writing “This author’s personality is as large as his estimable record of success, starting with a Supreme Court victory at twenty-eight to countless wins at the outstanding firm he built.”

Berg is also an author and essayist.  In 2006, the American Bar Association published his book on trial skills, The Trial Lawyer: What It Takes to Win,  and republished in its second edition in 2018.  In addition, he has published dozens of articles and essays on legal, political, and personal topics in such publications as The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Newsweek, The Atlanta Constitution, Litigation Magazine, and the Houston Chronicle.

David is a member of the Texas and New York State Bar Associations, a Fellow of the International Academy of Trial Lawyers, a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, and an Advocate of the American Board of Trial Advocates. David is a frequent CLE lecturer on trial skills for organizations such as the ABA Litigation Section, the Texas Bar Association, and the American College of Trial Lawyers. He has also taught trial skills and participated in discussions and seminars on the subject at various law schools, including The University of Texas, Georgetown, Colombia, Fordham, and the University of Houston.

David’s papers, which document his colorful and diverse career, were donated to the University of Texas Briscoe Center for American history in March of 2023. His papers are an important addition to the center’s legal history and social justice collections.

Types of Commercial Litigation Cases We Handle

David handles the broad spectrum of commercial litigation and in addition, the large volume of qui tam cases he took over when Joel Androphy, his partner of forty years, passed away in 2023.  David also has a history of representing white collar defendants in federal court.

When appropriate, David joint ventures cases with lawyers and law firms he respects as leaders in their respective fields.

Litigation Representations & Results

• Hundreds of plaintiffs/partners in a mass action alleging that plaintiffs were defrauded by Marriott Corporation in the management of several limited partnerships, resulting in $438 million plus $75 million in debt forgiveness for the Plaintiffs, for a total of $513 million.
• Acadia Ltd. Partners (now Oak Hill Partners), Robert Bass’s investment vehicle, in a lawsuit against a Florida real estate developer alleging that he had defrauded the company of $52 million, resulting in a verdict worth the “prayer” – $52 million.
• The Special Committee of Independent Directors of a publicly traded telecommunications company in shareholder derivative and class action litigation in New York and Delaware state courts.
• Johnson & Johnson Co. as lead counsel in successful defense of $54 million antitrust claim brought by a smaller company, resulting in a complete defense verdict by the jury after a seven week trial in federal district court in Southern California.
• A publicly traded real estate investment trust to recover its share of a $100 million “bad boy” guarantee of mezzanine debt that financed a national hotel chain.
• A Fortune 500 chemical company in an action arising out of the failure of an industrial chemical reactor that David Berg successfully tried to verdict.
• Ten international institutional investors in a fraud action filed in federal court in Chicago against an investment fund that misrepresented returns and other material terms and misappropriated investors’ funds.
• Shareholders of a tech start-up in a fraud action against a Spanish telecommunications giant for $120 million, resulting in a confidential settlement.
• Westinghouse as defendant in a protracted five month trial in which the South Texas Nuclear Project alleged that the company had sold it defective nuclear steam generators, ending in a confidential settlement before the case went to the jury.