J. Dillon Curran

Of Counsel

(405) 552-2252
dillon.curran@mcafeetaft.com
Oklahoma City

Overview

Dillon Curran is a seasoned attorney and advisor whose broad-based practice encompasses the areas of commercial litigation, commercial transactions, and the representation of regulated utilities in a broad range of matters. Businesses owners and other stakeholders in complex commercial disputes and business transactions look to him to protect their interests, advocate before state and federal courts, and provide guidance so they can achieve their goals.

In the litigation arena, Dillon draws on more than 20 years of experience to represent clients in a wide range of commercial disputes, including contract claims, business torts, partnership and shareholder conflicts, disputes among creditors and between lenders and borrowers, postemployment restrictive covenant and theft of trade secret claims, wage and hour disputes, and other high-stakes business controversies.

In addition, Dillon represents secured lenders and borrowers in loan negotiation and documentation and advises commercial lenders and other businesses on transactional matters, including business formation and governance, secured lending, contract negotiation, mergers and acquisitions, commercial agreements, municipal economic development projects, and real estate acquisitions and sales, including mixed-use developments. His extensive work in the banking industry includes representing lender “special asset” divisions in workouts.

Dillon also practices before the Oklahoma Corporation Commission representing regulated utilities.

Dillon’s achievements have earned him inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America (banking and finance law; banking and finance litigation; bankruptcy and creditor debtor rights / insolvency and reorganization law; business organizations; commercial litigation).

Representative Experience

Litigation

  • Successfully recovered unpaid bonus and severance compensation, penalty damages, and attorney fees for chief executive officer following the sale of her business to a Fortune 500 company.
  • Over the course of four years, successfully defended multi-national manufacturing company and its local distributor and employees against noncompete, non-solicitation, trade secret, breach of fiduciary duty, and civil conspiracy claims, including defeating temporary injunction.
  • Obtained judgment in favor of an Oklahoma City businessman against a national golf course developer in a multi-week bench trial.
  • Overturned unconstitutional state laws through summary judgment on behalf of a national transportation company. Judgment affirmed on appeal to the Tenth Circuit.
  • Defended oilfield services companies against wage and hour claims in Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico and Ohio.
  • Defended oil and gas E&P company against former executives’ claims to profits from asset sale.
  • Represented large Oklahoma landowner in pipeline condemnation action.
  • Representation of numerous clients in foreclosure and receivership actions.

Utility Regulatory Work

  • Rate cases for natural gas and electric utilities
  • Performance Based Rate Change cases for gas utilities
  • Energy efficiency, conservation and customer retention cases
  • Fuel adjustment clause cases
  • Franchising negotiations and approvals

Published Cases

  • BNSF Ry. Co. v. Hiett, 22 F.4th 1190 (10th Cir. 2022).
  • Reece v. AES Corp., 638 F.App’x 755 (10th Cir. 2016).
  • Okla. Elec. Coop. v. State ex rel. Okla. Corp. Comm’n, 2025 OK 60, 578 P.3d 1201.
  • City of Okla. City v. Okla. Corp. Comm’n, 2024 OK 77, 558 P.3d 1231.
  • Stillwater Nat’l Bank & Tr. Co. v. Cook, 2011 OK CIV APP 87, 257 P.3d 427.
  • BNSF Ry. Co. v. City of Edmond, 504 F.Supp.3d 1249 (W.D. Okla. 2020).
  • Wilmington Tr., Nat’l Ass’n v. Estate of McClendon, 287 F.Supp.3d 353 (S.D.N.Y. 2018).
  • Whitlow v. Crescent Consulting, LLC, 322 F.R.D. 417 (W.D. Okla. 2017).
  • Gomez v. Crescent Servs., LLC, 25 F.Supp.3d 965 (S.D. Tex. 2014).

Honors and Awards

  • Selected by peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America (2021–Present)
  • Named to Oklahoma Super Lawyers’ list of “Oklahoma Rising Stars” (2008–2017)
  • Honored with Oklahoma Lawyers for Children’s Mona Lambird Service to Children Award (2012)

Professional Organizations

  • Oklahoma Bar Association
  • Oklahoma, 2002
  • U.S. District Courts for the Western, Northern and Eastern Districts of Oklahoma
  • U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas
  • U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Ninth and Tenth Circuits
  • U.S. Supreme Court
  • J.D., with highest honors, University of Oklahoma, 2002
    • Order of the Coif; Assistant Articles Editor, Oklahoma Law Review
  • B.S. (Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources), magna cum laude, Oklahoma State University, 1999
    • Phi Kappa Phi