James P. Tuite
Partner Emeritus
Areas of Focus
- Antitrust & International Competition
- Royalty Monetization
- Product Liability
- American Indian Gaming & Compact Negotiation
- Consumer Protection
- Handled complex commercial litigation, with a special emphasis on the energy industry.
Jim Tuite retired from the partnership at the end of 2016. His practice focused on complex commercial litigation, Jim represented energy, natural resource, and transportation companies as well as Indian tribes and other entities in federal and state court trials and appeals and before federal and state agencies. He served as lead counsel in cases involving a wide range of substantive areas.
Many of Jim’s cases had substantial economic issues at their core; as a result, he has worked with some of the nation’s foremost economists in the development and presentation of expert testimony. An experienced appellate advocate, Jim argued more than a dozen cases before the U.S. courts of appeals and prepared numerous briefs before the U.S. Supreme Court.
- Obtained complete dismissal on appeal of a complaint seeking $140 million from a multinational oil company.
- Achieved complete dismissal on summary judgment of a complaint filed against a large petroleum products marketer in a case raising issues of first impression under the right-of-first-refusal provisions of New Jersey’s Franchise Practices Act.
- Successfully defended a large multinational oil company in a series of nationwide class actions alleging that it had violated the Sherman Act by colluding with OPEC national oil companies.
- Defended a petroleum products marketer in methyl tert-butyl ether product liability and groundwater contamination cases that are part of a large multidistrict litigation in the Southern District of New York.
- On behalf of a plaintiff Indian tribe, won a series of favorable rulings in successive trials in a lawsuit against the United States for failure to collect full royalties due on oil and gas production on reservation lands and for other breaches of trust responsibilities, resulting in a $380 million settlement for the tribe.
EducationJ.D., University of Texas School of Law, 1973
A.B., Duke University, 1970
J.D., University of Texas School of Law, 1973
A.B., Duke University, 1970
Bar AdmissionsDistrict of Columbia
Texas
District of Columbia
Texas
- “AV Preeminent® rated” by Martindale-Hubbell.
- Fellow, American Bar Foundation
- Member, Executive Committee of the Council for Court Excellence, a nonprofit civic organization that works to improve the administration of justice in the local and federal courts in Washington, D.C.
- “FTC’s Antitrust Challenge to Unocal’s Reformulated Gasoline Patents,” annual ABA Petroleum Marketing Attorneys meeting, March 2005.
