Paul B. Kerlin

• Trial counsel and Special Assistant Attorney General for the State of North Dakota against U.S. regarding claims related to the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline with trial witnesses that included Governor Doug Burgum, former Governor Jack Dalrymple, Brig. Gen. Scott Spellmon Chief of Engineers, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and former Secretary of the Department of the Interior Sally Jewell and obtained judgment for North Dakota in the amount of $27,854,867.30.
• First chair trial counsel for manufacturing facility in arbitration regarding claims in excess of $13 million for workplace related personal injuries, including second and third degree burns that required multiple skin grafts and resulted in a favorable defense outcome.
• First chair jury trial that resulted in unanimous verdict for commercial property owner client for the termination of 20-year lease and a deficiency finding.
• Representation of product manufacturers and service providers in a variety of claims involving personal injuries and wrongful death that allegedly resulted from various accidents at refineries and chemical plants in the Texas Gulf Coast area.
• Representation of manufacturers of medical devices in national multi-district litigation involving thousands of claims regarding inferior vena cava filters.
• Representation of manufacturers of medical devices in national multi-district litigation involving thousands of claims regarding polypropylene mesh implants for pelvic organ prolapse and stress urinary incontinence.
• Representation of manufactures of inferior vena cava filters in national multi-district litigation involving thousands of claims regarding alleged defects that resulted in migration of the devices and allegedly resulted in personal injuries.
• Representation of industrial gas supplier and distributor in Texas multi-district litigation in connection with the January 24, 2020, explosion in Houston, Texas.
• Representation of employers and businesses in misappropriation of trade secrets and covenant not to compete and non-solicitation cases, including forensic review of devices and data.
• Representation of a field services company in disputes with refineries and chemical plants regarding breach of master service agreements including claims against a foreign national oil company.
• Representation of national bank defending lending liability claims and prosecuting deficiency actions throughout Texas in federal and state Representative cases included defense of holder of notes for wrongful foreclosure and breach of fiduciary duty claims by loan servicer and of Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), 15 U.S.C. § 1681 et seq., claims premised on erroneous reporting by mortgage servicer with potential exposure to over 900,000 mortgages.°
• Representation of investment consortium for breach of purchase agreement for collateralized mortgage obligations with a face value of $500,000,000.°
• Served as trial counsel for Fortune 200 chemical company in a multitude of personal injury lawsuits pending in state and federal multidistrict litigation courts in which product, premises, and employer claims for exposure to asbestos are Paul has successfully resolved, for less than 1 percent of the settlement demands, hundreds of cases in which plaintiffs’ aggregate demands exceeded $100 million. Lead counsel for national bank defending lending liability claims and prosecuting deficiency actions throughout Texas in federal and state court.°
• Representation of construction contractor in Dallas County for claims that plaintiff’s multiple back surgeries, including 360 degree spinal fusion and intrathecal morphine pump, were necessary and were caused by a traumatic injury at Plaintiff demanded $3.4 million to settle his claims and the case was successfully resolved two weeks before trial for a confidential sum of less than 10 percent of plaintiff’s original demand.°
• Handled hundreds of claims for indemnity in product liability personal injury lawsuits filed in Arkansas for Canadian rubber Successfully obtained dismissals for client based on lack of personal jurisdiction.°
• Trial and appellate counsel for major chemical company that prevailed on summary judgment based on limitations for case in which plaintiff asserted lung cancer Plaintiff’s appeal based on the trial court’s application and scope of the discovery rule currently pending in the Houston Court of Appeals.°
• Trial and appellate counsel defending petrochemical process engineering firm in a lawsuit filed in Harris County and appealed to the Houston Court of Appeals in which the appellate court reversed and rendered a take-nothing judgment in favor of client on the application and scope of the certificate of merit statute for design professionals.°
• Trial and appellate counsel defending a Fortune 500 retailer in a lawsuit in Bexar County and in the San Antonio Court of Appeals in which a 10-year-old default judgment in excess of $3.5 million has been challenged by bill of Oral arguments in the Supreme Court of Texas (No.10-1028) were held Jan. 11, 2012 and the intermediate court of appeals opinion was reversed August 31, 2012. Represented client in parallel federal appeal which involved same claimant that was decided by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. (Holding dismissals under Rule 56 are “with prejudice to refiling”). Petition for Certiorari denied.°
• Representation of numerous clients in business disparagement and defamation claims including those based on false statements made on websites, blogs and Google Maps Obtained injunctive relief ordering defendants to cease making false statements and search engines removed from their search indices.°
• Trial and appellate counsel in commercial dispute in which case was dismissed for client based on lack of personal jurisdiction and affirmed on appeal.°

°The above representations were handled by Mr. Kerlin prior to his joining Greenberg Traurig, LLP.

• Team Member, a Law360 “Product Liability Practice Group of the Year,” 2021
• Listed, The Legal 500 United States, 2017
• Completed five Ironman distance triathlons
• Completed six half Ironman distance triathlons

• Member, American Bar Association
• Member, Texas Bar Association
• Member, Houston Bar Association
• Member, Houston Young Lawyers Association, 2005-Present
• Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo
  • Committee Member, World’s Championship Bar-B-Que Contest, 2010-Present
  • Beverage Stands Subcommittee, 2010-Present