Not a lot of doubt about the topic of water-cooler conversation at Vinson & Elkins last Tuesday: Bankruptcy partner D. Bobbitt Noel Jr.’s $116 million Houston state court jury verdict in a suit alleging fraud and breach of fiduciary duty against Dallas billionaire Trevor Rees-Jones and Devon Energy. Noel wasn’t the winning lawyer in the case; that honor fell to Gibbs & Bruns. The V&E partner was the plaintiff.
Noel once owned a minority interest in Rees-Jones’ oil and gas company Chief Holdings LLC. Rees-Jones bought him out in 2004, then turned around and sold Chief to Devon in 2006 for $2.6 billion. Noel subsequently sued Rees-Jones (No. 109 on Forbes ‘ latest list of U.S. billionaires), asserting that he was cheated out of a fair price for his Chief stake. Noel claimed that by the terms of the Devon deal, his interest in Chief was worth 20 times what Rees-Jones paid him for it.
