Energy Transfer Partners LP (ETP) won at least $319 million on Tuesday in its lawsuit alleging that Enterprise Products Partners LP improperly backed out of a pipeline development deal between the two companies. But ETP failed to persuade jurors that a codefendant, Enbridge Inc., interfered with the ETP-Enterprise partnership. One of Enbridge’s lawyers at Sullivan & Cromwell says the verdict is proof that out-of-town defense lawyers—even New Yorkers—can win over Texas juries.
After a five-week trial, a state court jury in Dallas returned a verdict that ETP and Enterprise formed a valid partnership to build a crude oil pipeline between Oklahoma and the Gulf of Mexico, brushing aside Enterprise’s argument that the companies’ partnership discussions were nonbinding. The jurors ordered Enterprise to pay $319 million in breach-of-contract damages, a bit more than half of the $596 million ETP was seeking (excluding more than $1 billion in alleged punitive damages).
