Vic Thomas

is a litigation counsel with the King & Spalding’s Houston office and is a member of the firm’s Texas Appellate Team that, over the past several years, has reduced verdicts and judgments against the firm’s clients by many millions of dollars. He has over 25 years of appellate and trial experience in both personal injury and business litigation. He is and has been Board Certified in Civil Appellate Law with the Texas Board of Legal Specialization of the State Bar of Texas since 1988. He served as a Staff Attorney for the Fourteenth Court of Appeals in Houston, Texas for over two years and drafted opinions for complex civil appeals. Mr. Thomas uses his insider’s knowledge of the appellate decision-making process to structure his briefs. He has received an AV rating from Martindale-Hubbell for the past 15 years.

Mr. Thomas often works on appeals that are referred to him by trial lawyers outside of his firm. In fact, a prominent trial attorney with another firm wrote in a letter: “I have told my partners that they should never do an appellate brief without Mr. Thomas’ assistance.”
Mr. Thomas also represents clients at trial when there is a potential for a large judgment, by among other things, assisting with preserving complaints for appeal, venire challenges, evidentiary objections, expert challenges, motions for directed verdict, and jury charges.

Mr. Thomas has significant experience in representing primarily defendants in both the Texas and federal courts in actions for negligence, products liability, premises liability, wrongful death, medical malpractice, breach of contract, theft of trade secrets, oppression of minority shareholder, fraud, tortious interference with contracts, and breach of fiduciary duty.

Mr. Thomas also has recent experience with defending Energy companies in claims for environmental contamination of property in the Louisiana trial and appellate courts.

The services he provides include:

representing clients in civil appeals and mandamus proceedings in both state and federal appellate courts;

assisting at trial with preserving complaints for appeal;

jury charges and charge conferences;

expert witness challenges;

motions in limine and evidentiary objections at trial;

complex legal research and trial briefs;

all kinds of jurisdictional and dispositive motions, including special appearances, venue, summary judgments, and directed verdicts;

motions for application of foreign law;

findings of fact and conclusions of law and judgments;

post-verdict motions - new trials, judgments n.o.v. and attorney’s fees; and

vacatur of arbitration awards.

Publications

“In BP Gulf Oil Spill Litigation, the District Court Decided Important Legal Questions that will Likely be Appealed, including the Standard for “Gross Negligence” and “Willful Misconduct” under the Clean Water Act and the Standard for Vicarious Liability for Punitive Damages under Maritime Law”, The Energy Newsletter, October 1, 2014.

“New York’s Highest Court Holds that Zoning Laws of New York Towns Banning Fracking Are Enforceable — A Brief Analysis of the Oral Arguments and the Court’s Opinion”, Pratt’s Energy Law Report, September 2014.

“New Silica Exposure Standard Likely To Impact Fracking”, Energy, Employment and Project Finance Law360, September 17, 2013.

“New Trial Orders In Texas Now Subject To Appellate Review”, Texas and Appellate Law360, September 9, 2013.

“Unsettled Questions of Texas Law—Claim for Exemplary Damages Against an Insured Employer for a Work-Related Death”, 53 South Texas Law Review 787, Summer 2012.

“Fracking Complaints: Similar Cases, Different Results,” Law 360 Newsletters, May 17, 2012.

“Cellphones can be perilous to employers,” Houston Business Journal, August 12, 2011.

“New Trial Orders by Texas Trial Courts are now Subject to Review by Mandamus,” Client Alert, August 26, 2009.

“Tortious Interference Arising from Filing or Threatening to File a Lawsuit: The Privilege Defense in Flux,” The Houston Lawyer; September/October, 2003.

“The 1979 Amendments Revolutionized the Texas Statutes of Limitations. But it was Not Recognized Until Almost 11 Years Later,” Texas Bar Journal, Vol. 54, No. 4, April, 1991.