Joseph H. Bocock has tried over 25 commercial arbitrations to verdict in his 30 years of experience as a trial lawyer. Over the last decade, he has devoted approximately fifty percent of his time to commercial arbitration work. He is a former arbitrator for the American Arbitration Association and served as an advisory member on the Oklahoma board when that group existed. He has spoken to classes about advocacy in arbitration at both the University of Oklahoma College of Law and Oklahoma City University School of Law in addition to Continuing Legal Education courses on the subject to lawyers.
His arbitration experienced originated in the securities industry representing major houses such as Smith Barney and Shearson but quickly grew to others areas of commercial litigation. He was instrumental in causing arbitration clauses to be employed in agreements between wholesale grocer Fleming Companies and their suppliers and related businesses. As a result he tried arbitrations for Fleming nationwide for several years, which included successful trials in New Jersey, Texas, Alabama, Idaho and Minnesota. In 1998 he acted as lead counsel in arbitration against Fleming in which approximately $400,000,000 was sought. The claimant was ably represented by the Vinson & Elkins firm. The arbitration lasted four weeks and was so complicated Fleming’s expert accounting fees were over $1,000,000. The claimant won only $1. However, Bocock was also successful in obtaining a sanctions award for a frivolous request for an injunction that required claimant to reimburse Fleming for approximately $35,000 in costs.
During the 1990s, he also tried major energy arbitrations for Bonray Energy against Samson Resources and for Devon Energy/Eberly and Meade against Oklahoma Natural Gas. Each of these major arbitrations resulted in a large damage judgment for his claimant clients.
Joe believes that arbitration is a unique specialty that requires both extensive and ongoing experience in civil litigation because the arbitrators are typically lawyers with traditional litigation backgrounds with a specific sense of fairness created by those experiences.
Six of his representative experiences involving a trial to verdict in the last few years are outlined below.
- Central Plastics Company v. Chevron Philips Chemical Company
In July of 2001, an American Arbitration Association panel of three arbitrators returned a verdict after a two-week trial in favor of Central Plastics Company of $3,698,993 for anticipatory breach on contract and also returned a verdict against Chevron Phillips on its counterclaim asserting approximately $25,000,000 in liability for defective fittings. Joseph Bocock and Kymala Carrier represented Central Plastics Company in a “bet the company” arbitration that took two full weeks to try and involved opposing counsel from both Houston and a top Tulsa firm.
- Investor Arbitrations Against AXA & Wilbanks
On August 28, 2006, an NASD panel of three arbitrators returned a verdict after a two-week trial of approximately $1,000,000, including $350,000 in punitive damages, against AXA Advisors in a securities fraud case brought by three groups of investors represented by Joseph H. Bocock and Spencer Smith. The hearing consumed two weeks and was ably defended by a Detroit lawyer who had tried over 150 arbitrations and who was a member of the American College of Trial lawyers. A subsequent arbitration claim was also pursued on behalf of another group of three investors by Bocock and Smith that also named Wilbanks Securities firm. That arbitration settled favorably after three days of the scheduled 10-day hearing in October of 2006.
- Mikkelson Beef Condemnation Award
In early 2007, McAfee & Taft attorneys Joseph Bocock and Jeff Todd successfully represented Mikkelson Beef, Inc. in a three-day inverse condemnation jury trial. As part of the relocation of U.S. Interstate 40, the Oklahoma Department of Transportation (ODOT) condemned the client’s property containing its beef processing plant and valued the property at approximately $450,000.00. After a three-day jury trial, a verdict was rendered in favor of our client for $2 million dollars, which was over 200% more than the valuation of the property by ODOT. Opposing counsel included Michael Darrah and Edd Pritchett, both of Durbin Larimore & Bialic.
- Simons Petroleum Arbitration
On March 14, 2008, an American Arbitration Association panel in Chicago awarded claimant Simons Petroleum, Inc., one of the largest petroleum marketers in the country and operators of the Pathway Network, $900,000 in damages in a dispute with TA Operating LLC, operators of Travel Centers of America.
On May 8, 2007, TA Operating LLC provided Simons Petroleum with proper notice of termination of its Fuel Network Affiliation Agreement (FNAA). The notice of termination gave rise to a wind-down period including two parts -- one part ending May 7, 2008, and a second part ending November 7, 2008. As part of the FNAA, respondent TA Operating was required to process and deliver all fuel purchased by Simons Petroleum’s Pathway Network customers at its Travel Stops of America locations nationwide until November 7, 2008. Further, both parties were required to conduct business as usual until May 7, 2008, the result of which is that TA Operating was obligated to continue adding new customers to the Pathway Network. When TA Operating failed to do so, a claim was filed to be resolved by the American Arbitration Association.
The panel’s award preserved the network, confirmed Simons legal position and resulted in a $900,000 damage award for the refusal to process new Network customers during the pendency of the dispute.
McAfee & Taft attorneys Joseph Bocock and Kymala Carrier successfully represented the claimant, Simons Petroleum, in the arbitration. The respondent and counter-claimant was represented by Jane E. Willis of the Boston, Massachusetts, office of Ropes & Gray, LLP.
- Pourchot Trust Dispute
During 2007-2008, Joseph Bocock and Kymala Carrier represented Phillip M. Pourchot, a prominent central Oklahoma businessman who was a major owner of Central Plastics Company, a multinational operation that manufactured plastic and metal fittings for industrial use. Stock in that company had long ago been placed in a trust for which Mr. Pourchot acted as trustee. Sadly, the trustees sued Mr. Pourchot alleging at least a dozen breaches of fiduciary duty and seeking in excess of $7,000,000 in damages. The case was tried to a jury in federal court which returned a verdict in August 2008 finding plaintiffs were entitled to nothing, thus exonerating Mr. Pourchot. No appeal from the favorable ruling was taken.
- Transformation 5701 LP v. Constructors & Associates Arbitration
In February of 2009, McAfee & Taft represented the claimant in an arbitration hearing against the prime contractor in a complex multimillion dollar construction dispute involving the extensive remodel of a luxury hotel in Houston. The multiparty arbitration took almost three weeks to try and involved use of a database of over 200,000 documents. In April 2009, a verdict awarded the claimant $282,000 in delay damages, a $160,802 reduction in certain invoices, and a dissolution of a pending mechanic’s lien in the amount of $4,077,876 filed by the prime contractor. Counsel representing the owner/claimant, Transformation 5701 LP, were Joseph H. Bocock, Spencer Smith and Dara Wanzer. The respondent is owned by the Structure Tone family of companies, a major international construction company, and was represented by a Dallas-based construction law firm.