Paul Thibodeaux

Paul C. Thibodeaux, a shareholder in Baker Donelson’s New Orleans office, concentrates his practice in energy, environmental, construction, mass tort and class action litigation, and intellectual property matters.

Mr. Thibodeaux’s engineering background assists him in the defense and prosecution of cases involving complex failure-analyses and technical-based claims. He is also a registered patent attorney with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Mr. Thibodeaux has experience in many high-profile engineering failure cases such as the BP oil spill multi-district litigation, the Chinese drywall multi-district litigation and the Hurricane Katrina-related Murphy oil spill class action litigation.

He has also participated in the successful defense and prosecution of numerous jury trials involving complex engineering-related issues, including multi-million dollar jury verdicts in favor of energy industry clients involving the misappropriation of proprietary information and the installation of defective products on an oil production spar.

Additionally, Mr. Thibodeaux has handled multiple environmental cases regarding refinery explosions and emissions, including Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act claims.

EDUCATION:

• Tulane University Law School, J.D., 2004
• Louisiana State University, B.S. in Civil Engineering, 2000

ADMISSIONS:

• Louisiana
• U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Registered Patent Attorney
• U.S. Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit
• U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Louisiana

Representative Matters:

• Represented a major oil producer regarding damage to its production spar caused by the installation of defective, Chinese-manufactured bolts. The case involved complex structural engineering and metallurgy issues. It was successfully tried before a judge in federal court over the course of two weeks, resulting in a multi-million dollar award for the client, including attorney fees and costs.
• Represented an international building products manufacturer in the defense of thousands of class action claims associated with its allegedly defective Chinese-manufactured drywall. The multi-district litigation was assigned to the Eastern District of Louisiana, and involved complex issues regarding construction, product liability and international law. After conducting several bellwether trials, a settlement was reached.
• Represented oil field operators, service contractors and vessel owners in the defense of personal injury and wrongful death claims made pursuant to the Jones Act, Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act and maritime law.
• Represented an oil producer in litigation stemming from plaintiffs’ claims that oil and gas production and refining was responsible for global climate change. The claims were successfully dismissed through motion practice.
• Represented an oil refiner in the defense of hundreds of Clean Air Act permit violation claims brought by a law school environmental law clinic on behalf of refinery neighbors, including parallel enforcement proceedings undertaken by the state environmental regulator.
• Represented an oil pipeline company regarding a subsurface pipe rupture and gas leak, including the successful completion of a consent decree process with the state environmental regulator.
• Represented oil platform and rig operators, vessel owners and dock owners regarding property damage and economic loss claims resulting from collisions and allisions.

Professional Honors & Activities:

• Member – American and Louisiana Bar Associations
• Member – American Society of Civil Engineers
• Member – Louisiana Professional Engineering and Land Surveying Board, EIT
• Member – American Intellectual Property Law Association