HOUSTON – An area law firm is being accused of notifying Transocean that one of its employees was seeking representation in a lawsuit against the company.
Seeking up to $1 million in damages, Gerald Nielsen filed suit against the Houston law firm of Chamberlain Hrdlicka White Williams & Aughtry, along with attorney Daniel Knight.
According to the lawsuit, on July 13, 2019, Nielsen was seeking representation in a possible retaliation lawsuit and contacted Knight, who practices maritime law, and was told that Knight’s firm represents Transocean and a conflict of interest may exist.
“It would have been fine if the matter ended there, but it did not,” the suit states. “Despite their duty to keep secret … the contents of Nielsen’s communications, Defendants instead decided to use the information to curry favor with one of their clients, Transocean.
“To that end, they reached out to Transocean to tell it that their employee, Nielsen, was shopping a lawsuit against it.”
Transocean terminated Nielsen’s employment a few months later, the suit states.
Nielsen seeks an award of actual and exemplary damages.
Attorney Andrew Golub of Dow Golub Remels & Gilbreath represents him.
Filed in Harris County District Court, case No. 2021-33270