Largest Judgment in Webb County, TX, History

On August 21, 2001, Judge Elma Salinas Ender of the District Court in Webb County, TX, entered judgments of more than $125 million on a case that was tried earlier in the year by the chair of Holland & Hart's Litigation Department, Peter C. Houtsma. These judgments are the largest ever rendered by a court in Webb County.

Holland & Hart's client, Cristina Brittingham Sada De Ayala, had brought suit against her stepmother, Ana Maria De La Fuente Brittingham, in Texas and Colorado, alleging that Ana Maria had signed a $34 million Promissory Note and Guarantee and refused to pay it when it became due. Ana Maria contended that the note was a fraud and that she never had received any money.

Holland & Hart first became involved in the Colorado suit, which Cristina brought to ensure that Ana Maria did not transfer or sell two valuable properties located in Aspen and Beaver Creek, Colorado, prior to conclusion of the litigation in Texas. After participating in the pre-trial discovery proceedings in the Texas action, Mr. Houtsma - who has tried more than 50 cases throughout the Western United States during his career at Holland & Hart - was requested by the client to try the Texas action along with a local Laredo attorney, Carlos Zaffirini. Trial of the matter took place over the course of a month in Laredo, TX.

In May 2001, within four hours after beginning its deliberations, a 12-person jury returned a unanimous verdict in favor of Cristina. In post-trial motions filed in June 2001, Ana Maria's attorneys argued that the evidence failed to show that Ana Maria had received the money from Cristina, despite having signed a Promissory Note and Guarantee.

After hearing arguments on the post-trial motions in July 2001, the court rejected all of the arguments made by Ana Maria's attorneys. The court signed judgments for more than $75,000,000 on Cristina's claim of fraud, $250,000 for punitive damages, $47,000,000 for failure to comply with the Guarantee, and $1,500,000 for fraudulent transfer of assets. The judge also awarded interest on these amounts. Under Texas law, Cristina is required to choose which of these judgments she will seek to collect.

Mr. Houtsma was assisted at trial by various members of Holland & Hart's Persuasion Strategies Team, including Don Yost, who was responsible for all of the trial presentation matters including hundreds of trial exhibits which were all loaded onto a computerized data base, digitized video depositions, and demonstrative exhibits; Pen Volkmann, head of Holland & Hart's Graphics Department; and Dr. Shelley Spiecker, one of Holland & Hart's two in-house trial consultants.