$73.5 Million Breach of Contract Award is Second Largest in Texas

DALLAS – For the third time in seven years, the Dallas litigation law firm Sayles Werbner has earned a place on the annual Verdict Search list of the top 100 verdicts in the nation.

Sayles Werbner’s $73.5 million breach of contract verdict against Sears, Roebuck and Co. was recognized as the 19th largest verdict in the nation in 2007. The firm’s win also represents the second largest verdict in Texas, according to the survey. Verdict Search, an affiliate of American Lawyer Media, publishes courtroom verdicts from across the United States. The complete “Top 100 Verdicts” listing appears in a special Feb. 18, 2008, section of The National Law Journal.

This is the third time Sayles Werbner has been included among the “Top 100 Verdicts.” In 2004, the firm recorded the nation’s 26th largest verdict after securing a $71 million award in lawsuit filed on behalf of victims of a June 2002 church bus accident. In the fifth largest verdict of 2001, the firm secured a $454.5 million verdict for COC Services Ltd. against CompUSA in a breach of contract lawsuit.

“Clients routinely trust our firm with their most important litigation, and we are particularly proud of the work we did in this case,” says Richard A. Sayles, co-founder of the firm. “This is the type of verdict that gets a defendant’s attention.”

In the case against Sears, Sayles Werbner represented 11 insurance firms that alleged Sears had improperly redeemed certain corporate bonds. Under the terms of a 1991 agreement, the bonds could be redeemed only if Sears showed “declining receivable” for three consecutive months. However, Sears redeemed the bonds in 2004 at a lesser, par value although their market value was significantly higher, and despite the fact that the bonds carried substantially above-market rates of interest.

“This case is one I’ll remember for a long time, and not just because of the final award,” says firm co-founder Mark S. Werbner. “It was not the easiest case to try because of all the highly technical information, but our team was able to make it interesting. In the end, the jury realized how brazen the defendant had been in its mishandling of millions of dollars.”

Sayles Werbner has an international reputation as a “go to” trial law firm in multifaceted business and product liability litigation, patent litigation, life-altering personal injury cases, product safety lawsuits and other areas of the law.