Mr. Worthington is an experienced litigator with an emphasis in commercial litigation, including breach of contract, business valuation, disputes among business owners, intellectual property, and personal injury litigation involving products and medical devices.

REPRESENTATIVE EXPERIENCE

Mr. Worthington has handled matters covering a variety of legal issues during the past several years, including disputes arising out of or involving: the purchase and sale of businesses, executive management employment contracts, trademark of gas detection device, valuation of patents and intellectual property, partners and/or owners of other closely-held businesses, valuations of business enterprises, breaches of warranty, multi-party medical device liability actions, patent infringement litigation, and multi-plaintiff cases alleging fraud in the delivery of health care services, as well as routine breach of contract, business disputes, and product liability cases.

Recent cases which Mr. Worthington has tried include: (1) a dissenting shareholder stock appraisal action involving a cable television franchise; (2) a medical-device liability action involving spinal instrumentation hardware; (3) a breach of warranty and statutory indemnity action arising out of the construction of a port facility; (4) a breach of a services contract action; (5) a multi-plaintiff healthcare fraud case; (6) a medical-device liability action involving a surgical guidance system; (7) a case alleging negligent premise maintenance at mental retardation treatment facility; (8) a breach of contract/fraud/negligence action arising out of the design and construction of two gas processing plants; and, (9) a minority shareholder oppression action involving the manufacturer of gas-flow measurement devices.

Appeals handled by Mr. Worthington include cases involving: (1) the application of the statute of frauds to a services contract; (2) the construction and application of a public employees' pension fund and benefit payments; (3) qualifications of expert witnesses and expert testimony under Texas Rule of Evidence 702; (4) application of the statute of limitations to remedial medical procedures; (5) allegations of civil rights violations and other constitutional challenges to benefit determinations made by a public employee pension fund; (6) a class-action lawsuit alleging under payment of vacation benefits in violation of the Seaman's Wage Act, (7) claims for indemnity under the Texas Dealer Indemnification Statute by a health care facility against a medical device manufacturer, (8) a municipality's defense of sovereign immunity to its firefighters’ pension fund's suit to recover the city's statutorily mandated contributions, and (9) multi-plaintiff case seeking recovery against contractor under the Price-Anderson Act, 42 U.S.C. 2210 et seq. as a result of alleged radiation exposure. Additionally, Mr. Worthington has appeared on behalf of amicus curiae before the Texas Supreme Court in cases involving the Texas Dealer Indemnification Statute, a foreign manufacturer's challenge to the general jurisdiction of the Texas courts, consideration of the "malfunction" or "indeterminate defect" doctrine under the Texas law of products liability, and jury charge submission under Texas law.

PUBLICATIONS AND PRESENTATIONS

Mr. Worthington's professional writing and lectures include the following:

• Managing Product Liability Risk in the Americas, Financier Worldwide (October 2009) [article].
• Amicus Briefing in Texas, Product Liability Advisory Council, Colorado Springs, Colorado (October 20, 2006) [presentation].
• Anticipating E-Discovery: Legal Holds, Preservation Orders, Disclosures and Discovery Conferences, Product Liability Advisory Council, San Antonio, Texas (April 28, 2005) [presentation and paper].
• Use of Computers in the Courtroom, State Bar of Texas 16th Annual Advanced Personal Injury Law Course (June 28, Dallas; July 19, Houston; and August 2, San Antonio, 2000) [presentation].
• Computers, Technology and the Twenty-First Century Courtroom, State Bar of Texas (Summer 2000) [co-author with John W. Teague].
• Strategic Use of Summary Judgments — Practical Issues and Judicial Perspectives, Product Liability Advisory Council, Charleston, South Carolina (March 23, 2000) [presentation and paper].
• The New Contractual Torts: Warranties and Revised Article 2 of the Uniform Commercial Code, Product Liability Advisory Council (Colorado Springs, CO, May 1997) [paper and presentation with Andy Koblenz].
• The "Citadel" Revisited: Strict Tort Liability and the Policy of Law, 36 S. Tex. L. Rev. 227 (1995).
• Empirical Effects of Restatement (Second) and Other Versions of Modern Product Liability Doctrine, William A. Worthington & David H. Timmins, 15 J. Prod. & Toxic Liab. 315 (1993).
• Legal Issues in Business Valuation, Texas Society of Certified Public Accountants, Houston Chapter (May 25, 1990) [presentation].

SELECTED ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Mr. Worthington's professional activities include involvement in the Products Liability Advisory Counsel, the American Law Institute, and the State Bar of Texas. As a member of the ALI, he has been an active participant in the consultative groups to the drafting of Revised Article 2 of the Uniform Commercial Code, the drafting of the Restatement of Torts, and the Principles of the Law of Aggregate Litigation.

In May of 2001, Mr. Worthington was a member of a delegation of Texas lawyers to the Republic of Cuba. The Cuban host for the program was La Nacional de Juristas de Cuba. During the program, the participants exchanged views and information on their respective legal systems, legal education, commercial and mercantile law, constitutional law, environmental law, foreign investment law, legal ethics and the practice of law.

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS

State Bar of Texas; American Bar Association; Houston Bar Association; Texas Bar Foundation; Houston Bar Foundation; Defense Research Institute; Texas Association of Defense Counsel; Products Liability Advisory Council; American Law Institute; Board Certified, Civil Trial Law and Personal Injury Trial Law, Texas Board of Legal Specialization; Texas Association of Civil Trial and Appellate Specialists.

BAR ADMISSIONS

State Bar of Texas; U.S. District Court for the Southern, Western, Eastern, and Northern Districts of Texas; U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Fifth and Eleventh Circuits; U.S. Supreme Court.

EDUCATION

Washington & Lee University, J.D. (magna cum laude, Order of the Coif) 1976; Executive Editor, Law Review
University of Utah, B.S. (cum laude) 1972