C. Bruce Stratton

Alternative Dispute Resolution Experience

          Completed forty (40) hour MEDIATION TRAINING FOR ATTORNEYS, ADVANCED MEDIATOR TRAINING (14 hours), and ADVANCED FAMILY LAW MEDIATION (24 hours) sponsored by the A. A. White Dispute Resolution Institution.  Original mediator training with U. S. Arbitration and Mediation in June 1987.  Attendance at numerous seminars regarding mediation and arbitration techniques.             

            Mediated in excess of 750 cases, many involving land disputes, personal injury, business litigation, workers compensation, slip and fall, product liability, premises liability, contract disputes, family law and medical malpractice.  Have arbitrated a number of cases involving personal injury, ad valorem taxes, and various other issues.  Party appointed arbitrator for American Arbitration Association in case involving breach of contract, franchise agreement and DTPA.

 Appointed to ALTERNATIVE METHODS OF DISPUTE RESOLUTION COMMITTEE of the State Bar of Texas in August 1991 (Public Policy Sub-Committee) and subsequently appointed in January 1992 to the Task Force reviewing ADR Standards of Practice and Ethics.

Elected to original Council of State Bar ALTERNATE DISPUTE RESOLUTION SECTION - two (2) year term, then three (3) year term as Chair-Elect, Chair of Section, Immediate Past Chair (1993-96).

Regional Vice-President (TX,OK,ARK,MO,KS) of Society of Professionals in Dispute Resolution (SPIDR) International (1995-96).

Planning Committee for South Texas Center for Legal Responsibility (South Texas School of Law).

Director of Texas Association of Mediators (1997-2002, President 2001-02).

Appointed by Supreme Court of Texas to Advisory Committee on Court-Annexed Mediations (May 1996).

Appointed by Supreme Court of Texas to serve as Co-Chair of Advisory Committee on Court-Annexed Mediations (August 1996).

Panelist - Conflict Resolution Seminar, University of Houston at Clear Lake; Panel moderator - SPIDR Seminar, San Antonio.

Panelist ADR Negotiation Strategy & Technology Workshop - Law Technology 1994.

Presenter - Mid-Year Meeting, ADR Section, State Bar of Texas, Austin, February 1997. Presenter - Annual Meeting, Texas Association of Mediators, Dallas, March 1997. Presenter - Annual Meeting - ADR Section, State Bar Annual Convention, Houston, June 1997. Presenter - Mastering Mediation For The Third Millennium, ADR Section Fall Seminar, Dallas, September 1997. Presenter - ADR Section Mid-Year Seminar, Austin, February 1998. Presenter - ADR Section Annual Meeting, Corpus Christi, June 1998. Presenter - ADR Section Mid-Year Seminar, Austin, February 1999. Presenter - Annual Meeting, Texas Association of Mediators, San Antonio, March 1999. Presenter - ADR Section Annual Meeting, Fort Worth, June 1999. Presenter - SPIDR Houston Chapter meeting, June 1999. Presenter - Mediation Association of Galveston County, July 1999. Presenter - San Antonio Bar Mediation Section, January 2000. Presenter - ADR Section Mid-Year Seminar, Austin, February 2000. Presenter - Texas Association of Mediators Annual Conference, Dallas, February 2001. Presenter - ADR Section Annual Meeting, Austin, June 2001. Presenter - Texas Mediators Credentialing Association - Conference, Austin, November 2006.

Clubs/Organizations

Liberty-Chambers County Bar Association – Member & Secretary-Treasurer, Vice-President, President (1971-74)

Liberty County Bar Association (President 1991-92)

CLE Chairman (1983-95)

State Bar of Texas (District 3 Admissions Committee (1974-83)

3B Grievance Committee (2005-2011) Panel Chair 2011 Sections - Alternative Dispute Resolution; Litigation; Oil, Gas and Mineral Law; General Practice

Liberty-Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce - Officer (Secretary-Treasurer, President-Elect, President (1994-96)

Rotary Club of Liberty, Texas - Officer (Secretary, President-Elect, President (1993-96)

St. Stephen's Episcopal Church Member (Lay Reader Chairperson, Vestry - 4 terms, Senior Warden - 2 terms; Licensed by Episcopal Bishop of Texas as Lector, Lay Reader [conduct Morning and Evening Prayer Services], Lay Eucharistic Minister in the Corporate Liturgy and Lay Eucharistic Ministry to the Ill and Infirm)

State Bar College Member (1994-2005, 2007-2011)

Liberty County Hospital District No. 1 - President (2005- present)

Mediator Credentialed Advanced - Texas Mediator Credentialing Association (2008-2011)

Liberty-Dayton Regional Medical Center - President(2009-present)

GENERAL INFORMATION  

 
Born in Liberty, Texas, March 6, 1941.  Admitted to Bar - State of Texas on September 16, 1968.  Also admitted to practice before U. S. Supreme Court, U. S. Court of Appeals -Fifth Circuit, and U. S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.  Preparatory education at Lamar University (B.S. 1963).  Legal education at University of Texas and University of Houston, class of 1967.  Social Fraternity - Alpha Tau Omega; Legal Fraternity - Phi Alpha Delta. 

GENERAL EXPERIENCE

  
Tidewater Oil Company and Getty Oil Company 1967-70; office in Liberty County since 1970 - sole practitioner; served as Special Attorney for Liberty County Grand Jury and Special Prosecutor for State of Texas.  Represented Southwestern Bell Telephone Company in a variety of cases, both plaintiff and defense.  Also represented Dresser Industries, Inc. and Geosource.  Extensive representation of small oil and gas operators involving disputes concerning working interest, royalty and leases, along with spills, improper disposal and chemical leakage on complaints lodged by Texas Railroad Commission.    Beginning in 1983 served as consultant for proceedings before Texas Air Control Board on application to construct and operate hazardous waste disposal site in Liberty County, Texas. Served on legal advisory committee (3 members) to People Against a Contaminated Environment (PACE) since its inception in 1983.  Case involved issues relating to environmental law and toxic tort litigation as it applied to toxic waste disposal and storage, including extensive review and study of hazardous waste disposal methods, both storage and incineration.  Panelist for Conflict Resolution Seminar University of Houston -Clear Lake (August 1990) concerning environmental issues in disposal of hazardous waste; Chairman (1989-91) - Local Review Mediation Committee for Hunter Industrial Facilities, Inc. application for disposal of hazardous waste in solution mined caverns at North Dayton Salt Dome, Liberty County; also Chairman, Citizens Monitoring Committee (appointed by Liberty County Commissioners Court) - citizens overview committee for construction and operation of Hunter Industrial Facilities, Inc. if granted permit.

 Considerable experience in dealing with loan restructuring.  Diverse experience in tort litigation including personal injury, damage to property and business torts.  Counsel in suit for  recovery of damages due to asbestos insulation.  Personal injury includes soft tissue injury, wrongful death, acid burns, toxic fumes and dust inhalation (several cases) and food poisoning (represented Brookshire Brothers, Inc. grocery stores).  Represented rice farmers in suit for toxic materials contained in fertilizer (federal and state court).  Numerous workers' compensation cases including several involving disabling inhalation.  Defense counsel for Southwestern Bell in several personal injury cases involving osteoporosis, osteoarthritis and scoliosis.  Some medical malpractice items relating to surgery and hospital care.  Several cases involving chemical and toxic dust inhalation at various chemical plants resulting in variety of ailments, poison ingestion and death.

 Represented companies attempting to develop reorganization plans pursuant to chapter 11 bankruptcy and companies restructuring their loan financing and negotiating buy out agreements.  Represented both the lender and the borrower in various business litigations.  Represented financial institution (First National Bank of Dayton) in a variety of business, collection and premises liability litigation.  Represented savings and loan association in litigation over financing of a large apartment complex.  Litigated matters relating to land function, usage and drainage.  Have been involved with devaluation of farm land due to economic factors, potential toxic waste disposal site locations, drilling operations interference and toxic contamination of water flooding operations.

AWARDS

• Justice Frank G. Evans Award (State Bar Of Texas, ADR Section) for exceptional and outstanding efforts in promoting and furthering Alternative Dispute Resolution methods in Texas, June 1999.

•Citizen of the Year for Liberty, Texas - 2000.

• Suzanne Adams Award (Texas Association of Mediators) for outstanding commitment and dedication to the mediation profession in Texas (February 2004).

•Who’s Who in Texas ADR - SBOT ADR Section “Alternative Resolutions” Special Edition 2007.

• Liberty Lions Club Citizen of the Year - 2010.

C. Bruce Stratton

Christina Curry, Legal Assistant

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