Clark A. Donat

Clark is a first-chair trial lawyer who counsels both plaintiffs and defendants in complex commercial litigation in suits involving aviation, technology, commercial banking/mortgage lending, financial services, real estate, health care, construction, energy (oil and gas), insurance, consumer finance, securities litigation, property-assessed clean energy financing, and employment disputes. He also assists clients in internal investigations and defends corporations and executives facing allegations of securities fraud.

Experience

Representative matters

Thwarted multi-million dollar class action by successfully invoking named plaintiff's arbitration clause.

Successfully defeated multi-million dollar claims against individual defendant after three-day arbitration hearing.

Obtained complete dismissal of class action on the basis that named plaintiffs must exhaust administrative remedies prior to filing litigation.

Experience

Thwarted multi-million dollar class action by successfully invoking named plaintiff's arbitration clause.

Successfully defeated multi-million dollar claims against individual defendant after three-day arbitration hearing.

Obtained complete dismissal of class action on the basis that named plaintiffs must exhaust administrative remedies prior to filing litigation.

Obtained complete dismissal of a twelve-count complaint at the pleadings stage of complex multi-million dollar litigation for a consumer and commercial financial services provider.

Successfully invoked non-competition clause for purposes of temporary injunction in federal court in Ohio, as well as in the subsequent arbitration.

Obtained complete dismissal of California state court lawsuit against Cayman Island bondholders on jurisdictional grounds.

Defended municipality in taxpayer lawsuit requesting injunction to prevent $44 million payment. Successfully defeated taxpayer’s application for temporary injunction and the lawsuit was subsequently dismissed.

Defended client and its former CEO and CFO in a putative class action asserting claims of securities fraud. Obtained dismissal of all claims in 2016, and the claims were dismissed again in 2018 with prejudice.

Represented major oil and gas E&P company in connection with adversary proceeding in bankruptcy regarding approximately $40 million in claims related to oil and gas liens. The firm obtained multiple summary judgments invalidating and extinguishing the oil and gas liens.

Represented group of 29 skilled nursing facilities in lawsuit involving interpretation and enforcement of pharmacy services agreements and alleged violations of the Federal Anti-Kickback Statute by institutional pharmacy provider.

Obtained $1.5 million arbitration award following three-day AAA arbitration hearing for clients against builder and individual owners of building company for construction defects, fraud and violations of the DTPA, including award of treble damages.

Obtained summary judgment for approximately $3 million based, in part, upon the Texas Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act.

Myers v. HCB Real Holdings, LLC, Case No. 05-13-00113-CV, 2015 Tex. App. LEXIS 4939 (Tex. App. – Dallas 2015), affirming trial court’s judgment on client’s breach of guaranty claim for approximately $1 million.

JGM Holdings, L.L.C. v. T-Mobile USA, Inc., 568 Fed. Appx. 316 (5th Cir. 2014), affirming underlying dismissal of approximately $1 million garnishment proceeding pursuant to Federal Rule Civil Procedure 12(b)(6).

HHT Limited Co. v. Nationwide Recovery Systems, Ltd., Case No. 05-11-01058-CV, 2013 Tex. App. LEXIS 6717 (Tex. App. – Dallas 2013), affirming $3 million jury verdict in favor of client on issue of sufficiency of evidence to support damages awarded.

Recognitions

Selected to the Texas Super Lawyers Rising Stars list for Business Litigation, 2018-2024
Dallas Volunteer Attorney Program, DBA Headnotes, DVAP’s Finest, November 2018
University of Arkansas School of Law, Arkansas Law Review, Note and Comment Editor