Grant Jones

Commercial Litigation

• Val Peterson, Inc. v. Tennant Metals — Represented Tennant Metals Pty and Metalcorp Group in a breach of contract action in Utah state court. The team secured a dismissal of all claims brought by a former partner for alleged breach in a failed joint venture. The suit alleged a variety of contract and equitable claims. In dismissing every claim against Tennant Metals and Metalcorp with prejudice, the court adopted substantially all bases for dismissal presented by Kirkland.
• Priddy v. Health Care Service Corporation — Represented HCSC in defending a class action seeking damages for alleged breaches of fiduciary duty under ERISA. After several years of litigation, Plaintiffs voluntarily dismissed their action against HCSC.
• Young Living Essential Oils LC — Defended Young Living in class action litigation in the District of Utah. The litigation team secured a dismissal of all RICO claims brought by a putative consumer class.

Restructuring-related Litigation

• Gastar Exploration Inc. — Represented Gastar Exploration Inc., and its wholly-owned subsidiary Northwest Property Ventures LLC, in their prepackaged Chapter 11 restructuring in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas. Gastar is a publicly-traded oil and natural gas exploration and production company headquartered in Houston, Texas, with assets concentrated in the STACK shale play in Oklahoma. Grant served as litigation counsel for Gastar in its Chapter 11 cases, including defeating an emergency motion to appoint an equity committee, and a last minute objection by an equity holder to confirmation of the plan.
• Parker Drilling Company — Trial counsel for Parker Drilling Company and certain of its affiliates in connection with their Chapter 11 restructuring in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas. Represented Parker in its contested examiner motion and confirmation hearing, where the Court confirmed Parker’s plan of reorganization.
• Victory Park Capital — Litigation counsel for VPC in connection with Think Finance’s Chapter 11 cases in the Northern District of Texas.
• Arena Energy, L.P. — Represented Arena Energy, L.P., which successfully restructured more than $1 billion in funded indebtedness and addressed over $500 million of plugging and abandonment liabilities.
• Whiting Petroleum Corporation — Trial counsel for Whiting Petroleum Corporation and certain of its affiliates in connection with Whiting’s prearranged Chapter 11 cases in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas. Whiting is a Denver-based publicly traded independent exploration and production company with an oil focused asset base, employing approximately 500 employees and with funded debt of approximately $3.4 billion as of the Chapter 11 filing. Whiting entered into a restructuring support agreement with its unsecured noteholders, which contemplated a Chapter 11 plan that provided 97% of the reorganized equity to noteholders and other holders of general unsecured claims, while still providing a recovery to existing equity holders in the form of the remaining 3% of reorganized equity. Through the deal reached with Whiting’s lenders and noteholders, Whiting de-levered its balance sheet by eliminating over $2.7 billion of funded debt.
• Extraction Oil & Gas, Inc. — Trial counsel for Extraction Oil & Gas, Inc. and its affiliates in their Chapter 11 restructuring and related adversary proceedings before the Chief Bankruptcy Judge for the District of Delaware. Following extensive discovery, briefing and multi-day trials against multiple counterparties, prevailed in rejecting numerous midstream contracts by establishing that they did not contain real covenants and that rejection was a reasonable exercise of Extraction’s business judgment. Also achieved favorable finding in novel argument that contracts could be rejected even if they had contained real covenants. Courtroom victories ensured multi-million dollar savings to the company.
• Chesapeake Energy Corporation — Trial counsel for Chesapeake Energy Corporation and 40 of its subsidiaries in their Chapter 11 restructuring before the Chief Bankruptcy Judge for the Southern District of Texas. Following extensive briefing and oral argument, obtained favorable rulings on disputed executory contract rejection and real covenant related proceedings, ensuring a multi-million dollar savings to the company.

Government, Regulatory and Internal Investigations

• Represent pharmaceutical, medical device, and other companies in investigations into potential violations of the False Claims Act, the Anti-Kickback Statute and other related regulations.

Antitrust Litigation

• Counsel for Allergan and Forest Labs in class action antitrust litigation related to the blockbuster Alzheimer drug Namenda.

Kirkland & Ellis LLP, Houston, Summer Associate, 2017

Parr Brown Gee & Loveless, Salt Lake City, Summer Associate, 2016