David Berg
Featured Cases
2017
David and his B&A team won a stunning verdict for comedy legend and entrepreneur Dan Aykroyd’s Crystal Head Vodka. A previous firm tried, lost and, to its credit, reversed the adverse verdict on appeal, which is when the B&A team began representation. After a three-week trial, the jury delivered a unanimous verdict in favor of Crystal Head, finding that defendants Elements Spirits Inc. and its founder Kimi Brandi had intentionally infringed Globefill’s unique, skull-shaped bottle in its product, KAH Tequila. The district judge issued an nationwide injunction against the manufacture and sale of KAH and money damages equal to KAH’s net profits. For the full story of this trial, with three actual Perry Mason moments, go to Boutique Bests Big Law in Booze-Bottle Battle
2011
Successfully represented Defendant XO Communications Special Committee in New York Supreme Court in an action by shareholders to enjoin a going-private sale to Carl Icahn; Judge Charles E. Ramos denied the injunction August 18, 2011 and the sale was concluded.
2010
Successfully represented Plaintiff Anthony G. Petrello in a lawsuit filed in the Eastern District of New York in 2001 seeking specific enforcement of a 1998 Contract of Sale of 10 oceanfront acres in Sagaponack, New York to himself by John White. After a long procedural battle, United States District Judge Dennis Hurley ordered the property transferred to Petrello and his order was affirmed after argument in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in 2009. The property was finally transferred to Petrello in July, 2010.
2006
Represented XO Communications Special Committee in Chancery Court in Delaware in a case seeking to stop certain corporate transaction. The case ultimately settled.
2005
Successfully represented the City of Houston pro bono, obtaining an unprecedented agreement with Texas Petrochemicals LP, under which TPC agreed to halve its production of the carcinogen 1,3 butadiene and all but end its effect on surrounding neighborhoods. Mr. Berg, at the request of Mayor Bill White, handled the matter on a pro bono basis.
For more information, visit the Houston Chronicle’s August 15, 2005 article entitled, “Tapping the Bar.”
2005
As co-lead counsel with colleague Larry Byrne, represented Defendant Deutsche Bank in an Enron-related class action suit in the Southern District of Texas. United States District Judge Melinda Harmon granted summary judgment and the case against Deutsche Bank was dismissed.
2004
Obtained a confidential settlement for the plaintiffs in Bidland v. Telefonica, in which Bidland sought $120 million in damages for fraud in the companies’ aborted joint venture. The case was filed in the Southern District of California, San Diego Division.
2003
Along with his son, Gabe, David obtained a $4.6 million jury verdict for basketball sports agent Eric Fleisher and his company, Assist Sports Management (“ASM”) in the Supreme Court of New York, in Manhattan. The jury found that the former president of Fleisher’s company breached his fiduciary duty by unlawfully taking such superstar clients as Kevin Garnett, of the Minnesota Timberwolves, when he left to join another agency. Case settled before appeal.
For more information please visit the NY Times’ October 17, 2002 article entitled “A $4.6 Million Judgment in a Battle of Sports Agents.”
2000
$531 Million settlement. On February 24, 2000, David Berg, as plaintiffs’ lead counsel, obtained a $531 Million settlement of a suit filed on behalf of thousands of limited partners of Marriott International and Host Marriott involving six different partnerships. Cause No. 96-CI-08327; A.R. Milkes and D.R. Burklew, et al. v. Host Marriott Corp., et al.; 285th Judicial District Court. The case, filed in 1996 in Judicial District Court of Bexar County (San Antonio), Texas, alleged breach of fiduciary duty and fraud against Marriott and was scheduled for trial on February 29th, 2000.
For more information, visit the NY Times, Washington Post, Associated Press, Chicago Sun Times, CNNfn.com, Houston Chronicle and other major news archives for Friday, February 25, 2000.
1999
Settled a $100 million dispute for Plaintiff Interamericas Financial Holding Company in district court in Galveston.
1999
Negotiated a confidential settlement with Menil Foundation on behalf of a former Board Member. For details of the case, please see the Houston Chronicle of July 9, 1999.
1998
As lead counsel, David obtained a jury verdict in district court in Orange County, Florida piercing the corporate veil of a Florida land developer, resulting in a $52 million recovery for the client, Acadia Partners, L.P., the private investment group of Texan Robert Bass The suit, filed against a Florida real estate developer and his law firm (which settled prior to trial), alleged fraud in inducing Acadia to invest in his business. Verdict affirmed on appeal.
1998
Represented Samsung as defendant in patent infringement case filed in EDVA that had threatened its billion dollar liquid crystal displays for laptop computers. Following an eight-day evidentiary hearing, United States District Judge T.S. Ellis held that the plaintiff had fraudulently obtained his patent and dismissed the lawsuit. That decision was affirmed on appeal.
1997
David Berg acted as lead lawyer for Susan McDougal in the appeal of her Whitewater conviction.
1997
With his son, Geoff, represented Defendant Stephanie Savage, who was accused of murdering her husband, in the 248th District Court of Harris County, Texas. Jury acquittal after 8 days of trial.
1996
David Berg successfully represented Samsung Electronics in a case against Texas Instruments, in Judge Brady Elliot’s district court in Ft. Bend County, which alleged fraud by TI related to a high-tech royalty agreement. The case settled before jury arguments, with TI agreeing to reduce Samsung’s royalty payments by fifty percent, increase its patent coverage from 35% to 80% of all TI patented products and to dismiss nine patent infringement cases against Samsung world-wide.
1995
Settled a mass action against Marriott Corporation, a suit filed on behalf of limited partners in the Chesapeake Limited Partnerships, alleging fraud in the inducement and millions of dollars in damages.
1995
Represented Westinghouse as lead counsel in a suit brought by the South Texas Nuclear Project alleging fraud by Westinghouse in its sale of nuclear steam generators. After five months of trial, the parties reached a confidential settlement.
1994
Negotiated a $4.25 million settlement for the survivors and estate of a young mother, Katrina Maria Uribe, a Mexican national, who had come to El Paso to give birth to her second child. She was shot and killed in the presence of her family, when an employee of E-Systems, Inc., a CIA-funded defense contractor, fired his semiautomatic weapon from an adjoining hotel room.
1992
Represented Plaintiff Mercedes Khajavi against local doctor in medical malpractice case and obtained a jury verdict of $500,000.
1991
David won a record-setting $12.5 million jury verdict for surviving family members of a young mother killed in a train-car collision.
1991
David won a unanimous verdict for Robert Sakowitz, Houston’s “Merchant Prince,” who had been accused in a civil suit of fraud and mismanagement of his father’s estate.
1990
As co-counsel, obtained a $19 million jury verdict against local law firm.
1982
David assisted Morris Dees of the Southern Poverty Law Center in a suit against the KKK, which resulted in an injunction shutting down their paramilitary training camps and restraining them from harassing Vietnamese Fishermen along the Texas Gulf Coast.
1978
Using the battered wife defense for the first time in Texas, David Berg won an acquittal for a woman accused of murdering her husband and transporting his dismembered body across the country in the trunk of her car.
1970
David Berg argued and won a case in the United States Supreme Court, reversing his client’s conviction for his part in an antiwar demonstration and legitimizing “guerrilla theater” as a form of protest (United States v. Schacht, 90 S.Ct. 1555; 398 U.S. 58).