James D. Higgason, Jr.
Of Counsel
Jim has litigated a wide range of complex commercial actions involving private and government parties in state and federal courts in several jurisdictions and before various arbitration panels. His practice experience includes contract disputes, commercial torts, debtor/creditor rights, professional malpractice, and antitrust. Jim has had substantial experience and success representing bankruptcy trustees in fraudulent transfer, preference, director and officer, and auditor malpractice actions. He has published and spoken extensively on litigation often brought in bank holding company bankruptcies, as well as on other issues that arise in complex commercial actions.
Representative Experience
- Obtained net recovery in excess of $130 million for bank holding company bankruptcy trustee in action against FDIC
- Obtained net recovery in excess of $70 million for bank holding company bankruptcy trustee in professional malpractice action against debtor's former auditors
- Secured partial summary judgment and take-nothing settlement in action arising from failed transaction involving sale of chemical plant
- Obtained net recovery in excess of $12 million for bankruptcy trustee in action against debtor's former directors
- Obtained favorable settlements for medical device companies in actions regarding European distributorship agreements
Publications
- "Fraudulent Transfer Claims Against the FDIC in Bank Holding Company Cases," Collier Guide to Chapter 11 Practice (Matthew Bender 2010)
- "Establishing Bank Holding Company Insolvency: Lessons Learned from the Bank of New England Corporation Bankruptcy" (with Ben Branch), 29 Banking & Financial Services Policy Report 1 (January 2010)
- "Fraudulent Transfer Remedies Available to Bank Holding Company Bankruptcy Trustees After Gramm-Leach-Bliley," 127 The Banking Law Journal 3 (January 2010)
- "Constructing a Bank Holding Company Insolvency Model: Parts I and II" (with Ben Branch), American Bankruptcy Institute Journal (November and December 2009)
- "Unsteady Companies Must Prepare for Gathering Storm," Houston Business Journal (April 18, 2008)
- "Directors' Duties Change When Company Is Distressed," Executive Counsel (March 2008)
- Contributor, Liddle & Marino, Labor and Employment in New York (John Wiley & Sons 1990)
- "Enterprise Liability in Private Civil RICO Actions," 45 Washington & Lee Law Review 1447 (Fall 1988)
- "Vancouver Women's Health Collective Society v. A.H. Robins Co.: Providing Adequate Notice to Foreigners in a 'Mass Tort' Bankruptcy Proceeding," 45 Washington & Lee Law Review 691 (Spring 1988)
Events
- "Electronic Discovery: Recent Developments and Practice Suggestions," University of Houston Advanced Civil Litigation Seminar (February 7, 2008)
- "Data Preservation Duties and Protocols," University of Houston Law Foundation Advanced Evidence and Discovery Conference (November 2008)
- "Bank Holding Company Insolvencies: Is the Grass Greener?" ABA Business Law Section Spring Meeting (Boston, MA, April 14, 2011) (panel member speaking on fraudulent transfer actions against the FDIC in bank holding company bankruptcies)
