Macey Reasoner Stokes

Clients praise Ms. Stokes as "a great legal mind with good connections in the judiciary” who “is able to identify quick, strategic resolutions for problems"

Chambers USA 2022

Macey Reasoner Stokes heads the firm's Appellate section. She received the 2022 Gregory S. Coleman Outstanding Appellate Lawyer Award from the Texas Bar Foundation. She serves as Immediate Past President of the Bar Association of the Fifth Federal Circuit and is a Past President of the Texas Supreme Court Historical Society, as well as a Past Chair of the Appellate Section of the State Bar of Texas.

Over her 30-year career, Ms. Stokes has handled a wide variety of civil appeals and extraordinary proceedings in both state and federal court, with significant experience in appeals for oil and gas and other energy clients. She has frequently provided appellate assistance at trial in complex, high-stakes litigation.

She has been named to Super Lawyers Top 100 Houston List annually since 2016 (2016-2021) and its Top 50 Women list for 2021, 2017 and 2016, and Texas Lawyer's triennial "Winning Women" list in 2014.

Ms. Stokes has been Board Certified in Civil Appellate Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization since 1998. She served as a briefing attorney to Chief Justice Thomas R. Phillips of the Supreme Court of Texas from 1993 to 1994.

• Vacatur of preliminary injunction against defendant's use or display of mark on canned energy drink, finding no likelihood of success on the merits of coffee company's claims under the Lanham Act and NY trademark and unfair competition law (RiseandShine Corp. v. PepsiCo, Inc., No. 21-2786, 2022 WL 2898794 (2d Cir. July 22, 2022))
• Reversal and remand of court of appeals’ judgment against oil and gas lessee on lessors’ claims for breach of express covenant to protect against drainage and reinstatement of summary judgment for lessee on related tort and statutory claims (Rosetta Resources Operating, L.P. v. Martin, No. 20-0898, 2022 WL 1434662 (Tex. May 6, 2022))
• Reversal of jury verdict and rendition of take-nothing judgment for gas utility in personal injury suit, unanimously holding that limitation of liability in utility's RRC-approved tariff barred ordinary negligence claims of houseguests using gas services (CenterPoint Energy Resources Corp. v. Ramirez, 640 S.W.3d 205 (Tex. 2022))
• Affirmance of dismissal for lack of standing of takings, ultra vires, and several other claims against river authority arising from operation of hydroelectric dams (Williams v. Guadalupe Blanco River Authority, No. 04-20-00445-CV, 2021 WL 2814902 (Tex. App.—San Antonio July 7 2021, pet. denied) (mem. op.))
• Affirmance of dismissal based on mootness and governmental immunity of numerous statutory, constitutional, and tort claims against port authority relating to crude oil export terminal (Port of Corpus Christi, LP v. Port of Corpus Christi Authority of Nueces County, No. 13-19-00378-CV, 2021 WL 269772 (Tex. App.—Corpus Christi/Edinburg July 1, 2021, no pet.) (mem. op.))
• Affirmance of dismissal based on governmental immunity of takings claims against port authority arising from operation of dredge material placement area (Port of Corpus Christi, LP v. Port of Corpus Christi Authority of Nueces County, No. 13-19-00304-CV, 2021 WL 499067 (Tex. App.—Corpus Christi/Edinburg Feb. 11, 2021, no pet.) (mem. op.))
• Reversal of multi-million-dollar judgment against oil and gas lessee and rendition of take-nothing judgment, holding that will bequeathing surface estate did not also devise underlying mineral estate that had been severed many years earlier (ConocoPhillips Co. v. Ramirez, 599 S.W.3d 296 (Tex. 2020))
• Reversal and dismissal for lack of personal jurisdiction of Mississippi plaintiff's claims against foreign corporation for injuries sustained on overseas oil platform (Chevron Thailand Expl. & Prod., Ltd. v. Taylor, No. 14-18-00540-CV, 2019 WL 6483116 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] Dec. 3, 2019, no pet. h.) (mem. op.))
• Reversal of judgment against operator, holding that parties’ agreements, which based the overriding royalty on the “amount realized” from the sale of oil and gas but set the valuation point for the royalty at or near the wellhead, unambiguously permitted operator to deduct post-production costs from overriding royalty payments (Burlington Resources Oil & Gas Co. v. Texas Crude Energy, LLC, 573 S.W.3d 198 (Tex. 2019))
• Reversal and rendition of judgment for oil and gas lessee, holding that as a matter of law, horizontal well that lessee drilled in tight-shale formation complied with lease’s offset well clause, and rejecting attempts to inject additional requirements into clause’s plain language based on drainage principles applicable to vertical wells in conventional reservoirs (Murphy Exploration & Production Co.—USA v. Adams, 560 S.W.3d 105 (Tex. 2018))
• Vacatur of jury’s award of damages for wrongful death based on discharge of claims in bankruptcy, and adoption of the “reasonably ascertainable” standard for measuring the constitutional adequacy of bankruptcy notices (Dahlin v. Lyondell Chem. Co., 881 F.3d 599 (8th Cir. 2018))
• Reversal and dismissal of Texas residents’ personal injury claims for lack of personal jurisdiction over foreign corporation with its principal place of business overseas (Chevron Bangladesh Block Twelve Ltd. v. Baldwin, No. 01-17-00303-CV, 2017 WL 6043686 (Tex. App.—Houston [1st Dist.] Dec. 7, 2017, no pet.) (mem. op.))
• Holding in case of first impression that utility could not be held liable for personal injuries from accident at intersection with inoperable signals resulting from power outage, because drivers’ failure to comply with traffic laws was an intervening and superseding cause of the accident (Rampersad v. CenterPoint Energy Houston Electric, LLC, 554 S.W.3d 29 (Tex. App.—Houston [1st Dist.] 2017, no pet.))
• Holding that purchaser of bankruptcy debtor’s assets was assigned environmental indemnity and defense obligations contained in oil and gas exchange agreement (Noble Energy, Inc. v. ConocoPhillips Co., 532 S.W.3d 771 (Tex. 2017), cert. denied, No. 17-1438, 2018 WL 1858882 (U.S. Oct. 1, 2018)))
• Affirmance of summary judgment holding that as a matter of law, oil and gas lessee did not breach lease's offset well clause expressly incorporating reasonably prudent operator standard (Mzyk v. Murphy Exploration & Production Co., No. 04-15-00677-CV, 2017 WL 2797479 (Tex. App.—San Antonio June 28, 2017, no pet.) (mem. op.))
• Affirmance of take-nothing judgment on jury verdict on claims for fraudulent inducement of settlement agreement resolving dispute over royalty interests in Syrian oil and gas properties (Syrian American Oil Corp., S.A. v. Pecten Orient Co., 524 S.W.3d 350 (Tex. App.—Houston [1st Dist.] 2017, no pet.))
• Affirmance of summary judgment for trustees and executors enforcing release against beneficiary’s breach of fiduciary, breach of contract, fraud, and other tort claims (Harrison v. Harrison Interests, Ltd., No. 14–15–00348–CV, 2017 WL 830504 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] Feb. 28, 2017, pet. denied) (mem. op.))
• Affirmance of dismissal of wrongful death claims alleging exposure to benzene through gasoline (Burst v. Shell Oil Co., 650 F. App’x 170 (5th Cir. May 23, 2016) (per curiam), cert. denied, No 16-241, 2016 WL 4479680 (Oct. 11, 2016))
• Affirmance of dismissal of private nuisance and negligence claims alleging injuries from odors, noises, and toxic emissions from oil and gas operations, in opinion holding that plaintiffs must present qualified expert testimony to support such claims (Cerny v. Marathon Oil Co., 480 S.W.3d 612 (Tex. App.—San Antonio 2015, pet. denied))
• Reinstatement of summary judgment on defamation claims, in unanimous opinion holding that an absolute privilege protects a company’s statements made to the U.S. Department of Justice during an investigation of possible Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations (Shell Oil Co. v. Writt, 464 S.W.3d 650 (Tex. 2015))
• Affirmance of take-nothing judgment for premises owner on claims for damages for mesothelioma due to asbestos exposure, in unanimous opinion construing Chapter 95 of the Texas Civil Practices & Remedies Code as applying to claims for both premises defects and negligent acts of the property owner (Abutahoun v. Dow Chemical Co., 463 S.W.3d 42 (Tex. 2015))
• Judgment declaring that the Harris County Flood Control District must pay AT&T’s expenses to relocate its facilities from a bridge designated for demolition by the District’s flood control plan, in unanimous opinion construing Section 49.223 of the Texas Water Code for the first time (Southwestern Bell Telephone, L.P. d/b/a AT&T Texas v. Emmett, 459 S.W.3d 578 (Tex. 2015))
• Appellate member of trial team; mid-trial dismissal with prejudice of trade secret and interference claims seeking $1.37 billion from oil and gas company in February 2015 (Moncrief Oil Int’l, Inc. v. OAO Gazprom, 17th District Court of Tarrant County, Texas)
• Affirmance of dismissal of novel “odorant fade” claims against gas utility (Canas v. CenterPoint Energy Resources Corp.,418 S.W.3d 312 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 2013, no pet.))
• Affirmance of dismissal of aesthetic nuisance claim against wind farm (Ladd v. Silver Star I Power Partners, L.L.C., No. 11-11-00188-CV, 2013 WL 3377290 (Tex. App.—Eastland May 16, 2013, pet. denied) (mem. op.))
• Appellate member of trial team; €765 million judgment on a jury verdict for breach of warranty and securities fraud in January 2013 (Liberty Media Corp. et al. v. Vivendi Universal, S.A., et al., U.S. Dist. Ct. S.D.N.Y.)

Recognized in Chambers USA, 2007-2022 (Band 2, Texas Appellate, 2020-2022)

Listed in The Best Lawyers in America (Woodward White, Inc.), Appellate Practice and Commercial Litigation, 2005-2022

Listed in Who's Who Legal, Litigation (Law Business Research Ltd.), 2015-2021, & Commercial Litigation, 2012-2014

Recognized as a Texas Super Lawyer, Appellate Law (Thomson Reuters), 2003-2021; named to Top 100 Houston list, 2016-2021 and Top 50 Women list 2016-17, 2021

Recognized as a Local Litigation Star-Texas, Benchmark Litigation, 2013-2021

Named one of the Top 250 Women in Litigation in America by Benchmark Litigation, 2013-2016, 2018