Texas attorney Hugh M. Ray III practices as a partner with Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP in Houston. Hugh Ray III focuses his work on complex restructuring and business bankruptcy. He routinely leads high profile and high stakes bet-the-company cases.
Bet-the-company litigation describes cases that will overwhelm or effectively end a company if lost, whether that company is a small startup or a financial giant. Cases like these often arise when severe regulatory problems occur, when a large-scale disaster happens, or when litigation causes a company to become unprofitable in other ways such as through reputation damage.
In complicated cases, litigation can take place in multiple jurisdictions or between multiple litigants. This compounds existing problems by spreading legal resources thin. When governmental or regulatory bodies are involved, lengthy investigations can also complicate matters. Many law firms report a dramatic increase in bet-the-company cases in recent years. Some reports show that this type of litigation has tripled or quadrupled in popularity in the US since 2014.
