On Friday, June 27th, United States District Judge Nancy F. Atlas granted motions filed by the Montgomery County Attorney’s Office and dismissed the lawsuit filed by TexCom Gulf Disposal, LLC against Montgomery County, its current Commissioners, and one former Commissioner. According to County Attorney J D Lambright, “TexCom filed the lawsuit in Houston federal court in September 2013, and alleged millions of dollars in damages. TexCom claimed that the County and its Commissioners had unconstitutionally taken its property and had discriminated against TexCom in denying building permits for the surface facilities to be used in conjunction with TexCom’s proposed underground wastewater injection wells.” The property in question is an approximately 30 acre tract near the intersection of Creighton Road and FM 3083, just southeast of Loop 336 in Conroe.
Lambright stated that “when we were served with this lawsuit, we felt that it was wholly without merit, and we advised the Commissioners Court that we would aggressively defend it. Assistant County Attorney B D Griffin did a superb job as lead attorney representing the County’s interests. Griffin was aided by Assistant County Attorneys Stuart Hughes and Daniel Plake, along with our litigation support staff.”
In her Memorandum and Order, Judge Atlas found that TexCom’s allegations did not describe any unconstitutional discrimination by Montgomery County or its elected officials, and that Montgomery County did not take TexCom’s property. Judge Atlas dismissed all the federal claims with prejudice and dismissed all pendent state claims without prejudice, effectively ending the litigation in federal court absent an appeal. Lambright commented that “The Judge stated in her Final Order of Dismissal that TexCom failed to state a claim for relief under these provisions of the United States Constitution”.
TexCom was represented by Bracewell & Giuliani LLP, a highly-regarded international law firm with some 485 lawyers in Texas, New York, Washington D.C., Connecticut, Seattle, Dubai, and London. Lambright further stated that “at the outset, we knew that Texcom’s team of top-flight lawyers would vigorously pursue the case. However, I have also assembled an outstanding legal team in my office, and I have complete confidence in their abilities to represent the County. We were of the opinion that TexCom’s claims were baseless, despite their asking the Court to award them millions of dollars.”
