SANTA ANA, Calif. – A federal judge in California granted summary judgment for an international energy company represented by AZA in a $10 million offshore platform wrongful death case.
U.S. District Judge Fred W. Slaughter ruled that AZA’s energy company client had no liability for an offshore platform accident in which a platform worker fell to his death in December 2020.
The plaintiffs’ lawyers asserted that AZA’s client had negligently maintained the platform during its former ownership and failed to warn of dangerous conditions on the platform. AZA successfully argued that its client owed the plaintiffs no legal duty, that the worker’s employer was responsible, and that the plaintiffs had failed to meet the deadline to add related defendants.
“It is rewarding to protect the rights of our client against legal theories that are just not correct,” said AZA partner Rey Flores, who worked on the case with Michael Gorrell and Todd Mensing.
AZA, or Ahmad, Zavitsanos & Mensing, is a Houston-based law firm that is home to true courtroom lawyers with a formidable track record in complex commercial litigation, including energy, healthcare, intellectual property and business dispute cases. AZA is recognized by Chambers USA 2023 as among the best in Texas in commercial law and intellectual property; has been listed by U.S. News – Best Lawyers’ Best Law Firms as one of the country’s best commercial litigation firms for 11 years running; has been named Litigation Department of the Year by Texas Lawyer three times, including for 2021; and was previously dubbed a Texas Powerhouse law firm by Law360.