Services Loss Recovery Litigation

Kean Miller pursues subrogation and other loss-recovery claims for our business, industrial, and maritime clients. We draw from a deep bench of experienced trial lawyers to maximize recovery on property, personal-injury, and business losses caused by third parties.

Our team has learned through experience that partnering with our clients to pursue their losses from third parties is often the best way to maximize our clients’ recovery or defend them from liability. Our knowledge of Louisiana and Texas insurance, indemnity, subrogation, and contribution laws regularly lead to optimum results for our clients.

Loss-recovery claims lend themselves to alternative and creative fee arrangements. Kean Miller often shares the litigation risk with its client by taking matters on a contingency or blended-fee basis. We believe that partnering with our clients and sharing the risks and rewards of litigation with them helps align incentives and achieve the most favorable results for our clients.

Our team has extensive experience in matters involving the offshore drilling, energy exploration, maritime, petrochemical, energy, construction, pipeline, refining, manufacturing, technology, banking, insurance, and retail industries.

Areas of Expertise

• Allisions with docks and other stationary structures
• Business litigation
• Down-hole problems
• Exploration and production activities
• Issues arising out of bankruptcy or liquidation
• Jones Act, LHWCA, and DOSHA claims
• Offshore drilling activities/onshore drilling activities
• Offshore/onshore production activities
• Pipeline incidents
• Refining casualties
• Vessel collisions
• Well blowouts

Representative Experience

• Representation of an industrial manufacturer in a $60 million subrogation claim against an engineering firm related to the failure of a waste heat recovery boiler upon re-start of the facility resulting in replacement of the internal components of the boiler and related business interruption loss.
• Representation of a global chemical company in its claim for recovery of settlement proceeds paid to resolve personal injury and property damage claims. The claims were a result of alleged exposure to chemicals released from a petrochemical facility. The Kean Miller team recovered more than $25 million for our client.
• Counsel for a large offshore drilling contractor and its insurers whose rig sank while under tow in the Mediterranean Sea. Our team recovered more than $17 million for our client.
• Representation of a drilling contractor and its insurers in connection with a well blowout and resulting 10-day fire. Losses included damage to the drill rig, wreck removal and salvage expenses, amounts expended to resolve personal injury, and death claims. Following trial, our team recovered $9 million from the blowout preventer manufacturer.
• Representation of an oil and gas company and its insurers in a suit for damages caused by a well blowout, resulting in a recovery of $10 million.
• Representation of an oil and gas company and its insurers in a suit for damages caused by a well blowout, resulting in a recovery of $3 million.
• Representation of an oil and gas company and its insurers in a suit for damages to a well head caused by an allision with a vessel.
• Representation of offshore platform owner and its insurers where the platform was destroyed as a result of a semi-submersible rig breaking its anchors during a hurricane. The free-floating rig destroyed the platform which was no longer used for production purposes. The platform owner had a proposed alternative use which had not been implemented. The team recovered in excess of $4 million, representing the platform’s insured value, wreck removal, P&A expenses, as well as the cost of constructing a replacement platform.
• Subrogation counsel for a drillship owner whose vessel was damaged in a collision in the South China Sea. Following trial, our team recovered 100% of claimed damages of more than $1.3 million for our client.
• Representation of an energy company and its insurer in connection with damage caused by a third-party which resulted in a hydrocarbon leak to its pipeline that included $1.3 million in clean-up and remediation.
• Representation of a global computer company in subrogation action to recover damages caused by a computer fire.
• Representation of multiple petrochemical plant operators to recover losses from plant shutdowns caused by the loss of electrical power.
• Representation of petrochemical plant operator to recover losses from a plant shutdown caused by a defective valve.