LPHS Gains Appellate Win in Railcar Lease Dispute

In the reversal of a directed judgment by the trial court, an LPHS team has secured a major win for the firm’s client Sunoco Partners before the Dallas Court of Appeals. The ruling against Trinity Industries dismisses the earlier judgment against Sunoco of over $24 million in a dispute involving a railcar lease agreement. While the trial court found that Sunoco had breached the contract by refusing to pay for government-mandated modifications to 280 leased railcars, the appellate court found there was no such obligation as the leased tankers were not in active use to transport crude oil. 

In the ruling filed on August 31, the court wrote:

The relevant change in the law did not require modifications for parked cars, and Sunoco was not using the cars to transport crude oil by the time the modifications were required by any of the relevant laws.

If the cars were not in use to transport crude oil, no modifications were required. As a matter of law, Sunoco was not in breach of the Lease.

The LPHS team throughout the appeal was led by David Coale, together with Andrés Correa, Mike Lynn, and Chloe Teeter. The case is Sunoco Partners Marketing & Terminal LP v. Trinity Industries Leasing Company, No. 05-24-00468-CV in the Fifth District Court of Appeals in Dallas.