Guerrero & Whittle PLLC

Guerrero & Whittle PLLC

Number of Partners: 2

Total Attorneys: 4

Office:

2905 San Gabriel Street, Suite 309

Austin, Texas 78705

(512) 605-2300

www.gwjustice.com

Firm Overview:

Guerrero & Whittle PLLC is a boutique law firm experienced in high-dollar, complex litigation with a focus on environmental property damage cases, personal injury, and product liability claims.They have a track record of success and have litigated multiple cases involving catastrophic damage to ranches, farms, and homesteads, including entire neighborhoods. They are nearly always the small firm working on complicated issues versus multiple, large national law firms and have achieved significant, precedent-setting wins for their clients.

Attorneys:

Mark Guerrero has a broad base of complex litigation experience, from working at a boutique Plaintiff-oriented litigation practice to a large national law firm, as well as government experience. As anAssistant United States Attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice, Mark defended the United Statesagainst various civil lawsuits, including personal injury claims, complex medical malpractice claims involving federal government medical providers, and employment matters. As an associate at Fish & Richardson, P.C., he managed a docket of complex commercial litigation cases with a focus on intellectual property matters for both global corporations and Austin-based businesses.As an associate at Mithoff & Jacks LLP / Jacks Law Firm, he managed a large docket of complex cases thatincluded commercial litigation, product liability, medical malpractice, mass tort and personal injury cases in both federal and state court.

Mary Whittle is a seasoned trial lawyer with a breadth of experience, having worked as a government lawyer, a private practitioner, and as an attorney for the nation’s premier non-profit environmental law firm. Mary started her legal career in 2001 as a trial attorney at the United States Department of Justice, where she successfully litigated a variety of complex cases around the country. In private practice as a partner at Perry & Haas, Mary was one of a team of lawyers who represented families in six of the major cases arising out of the BP Texas City Refinery explosion. In 2013, Mary joined a national non-profit law firm, where she represented environmental organizations, tribes, and community groups in precedent-setting matters, including in direct enforcement actions against some of the nation’s largest and most powerful utilities and industry groups.

Ketan Kharod represented individuals in personal injury lawsuits in dozens of state and federal courts throughout the country, representing plaintiffs injured by asbestos exposure, drugs and medical devices, and serious motor vehicle injuries. Ketan also has represented whistleblowers who dared report waste, fraud, and abuse of public funds, thereby saving taxpayers millions of dollars under the False Claims Act and its state counterparts.Prior to entering private practice, he served as a law clerk to the Honorable Sam Sparks of the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas in Austin.

Juliana Sciaraffa focuses on business, oil and gas, and real estate transactions and has been instrumental in responding to the complex mineral and property issues that arise in the firm's environmental cases.

Representative Matters:

Represented the owners of a 25,000-acre cattle ranch in South Texas in a two-year dispute against two Texas electric cooperatives and one of North America’s largest mining companies for widespread groundwater, surface water, and soil pollution from a lignite coal plant and mine because of the disposal of toxic coal combustion residuals (commonly known as “coal ash”) and negligent wastewater management practices. Guerrero & Whittle led a team of five law firms and brought claims in state court, federal court, and before the local groundwater district. The case involved the largest eminent domain award in the history of the State of Texas and involved complex legal and scientific theories, with experts in mining, reclamation, water and soil pollution, geophysics, historical aerial analysis, forensic accounting, and real estate valuation. Each side had 10 experts testifying on a variety of scientific and technical issues.

Represented forty-seven (47) plaintiffs against one of the largest energy infrastructure companies in North America, a leading provider of horizontal directional drilling services in the United States, and a pipeline contractor for pollution of plaintiffs’ groundwater, when the defendants attempted to construct a 425-mile long, forty-two-inch diameter gas utility Pipeline across Texas. The pipeline was designed to cross under a river in an environmentally sensitive area which included geological karst formations with the potential to act as a direct conduit to groundwater. The case settled after the first day of trial.