Todd W. Mensing
Top rated Business Litigation attorney in Houston, Texas
Ahmad, Zavitsanos & Mensing or AZA
Practice Areas: Business Litigation
Licensed in Texas since: 1999
Education: The University of Texas School of Law
Selected to Super Lawyers: 2004, 2013 - 2024 
Selected to Rising Stars: 2004 Ahmad, Zavitsanos & Mensing or AZA
1221 McKinney StreetSuite 2500
Houston, TX 77010 Phone: 713-655-1101 Email: Todd W. Mensing Visit website
Details
Todd W. Mensing focuses on complex commercial litigation. He is Board Certified in Civil Trial Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, a distinction reserved for Texas trial lawyers with a high degree of trial experience and expertise. During the last ten years, an average of fewer than ten attorneys per year statewide has earned the distinction.
He is recognized among the top lawyers in the nation for commercial litigation in The Best Lawyers in America. Mr. Mensing also is recognized in the area of Texas General Commercial Litigation in the 2014-2016 editions of Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business published by London-based Chambers and Partners. He has also been elected to the prestigious American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA), an elite group of the country’s leading judges and civil trial lawyers.
Mr. Mensing has tried cases in virtually every arena, including in the areas of complex commercial litigation; intellectual property and trade secret disputes; executive employment claims; catastrophic personal injury cases; as well as white collar criminal defense matters.
In 2015 and 2016, he was named one of the top 100 lawyers in Texas and Houston on the annual Texas Super Lawyers list. He has been on the Texas Super Lawyers list for several years. He was put on the Super Lawyers list in only his fifth year of practice and was one of the youngest attorneys in Texas to be named to the list. He was named to the “Who’s Who in Energy” list of top 100 Houston energy industry leaders published in 2011–2014 in several U.S. city business journals.
Prior to joining Ahmad, Zavitsanos, Anaipakos, Alavi & Mensing P.C., Mr. Mensing graduated with honors and in the top ten percent of his class at the University of Texas School of Law. He obtained his undergraduate degree with honors from Stanford University.
Mr. Mensing was born in Modesto, California. In 1994, he earned a B.A. in English, with honors, from Stanford University. In 1999, he graduated from the University of Texas School of Law, where he was a four-time recipient of the Dean’s Achievement Award. After graduating from law school, he began his career in the litigation section of Vinson & Elkins, L.L.P. In March of 2001, he joined Ahmad, Zavitsanos, Anaipakos, Alavi & Mensing P.C.
EDUCATION
- Stanford University (A.B., with Honors, 1994)
- University of Texas School of Law (J.D., with Honors, Order of the Coif, 1999)
First Admitted: 1999, Texas
Professional Webpage: http://www.azalaw.com/attorneys/todd-w-mensing/
Representative Clients:
- Select representative clients: Air Liquide, Weatherford, Plains All American Pipeline, FMC Technologies, CITGO, NAPA Auto Parts, NuStar, Port of Houston Authority
Verdicts/Settlements (Case Results):
- Other Recent Verdicts ***Represented at trial a Texas man being prosecuted for capital murder. The Court declared a mistrial after the jury remained deadlocked 8-5 (including the alternate) in favor of a not guilty verdict. After the trial, the State dropped all charges against the client. Prior to this trial, the State was 75-0 in capital murder trials. *** Achieved a defamation verdict against a Houston newspaper that included $1 million in punitive damages. The verdict represents one of the largest defamation verdicts against a newspaper in Texas history. *** Obtained acquittal at trial of a Houston university professor prosecuted for sexually assaulting a female student. After deliberating for less than an hour, the all-female jury returned a not-guilty verdict. *** Achieved acquittal at trial of an employee of a Fortune 100 corporation prosecuted for engaging in an embezzlement scheme. The client had given three separate confessions to the investigating authorities. Todd established the confessions were coerced and false. The jury returned a not guilty verdict after deliberating for less than two hours. ***Successfully represented the parent of a minor child in a two-week child custody jury trial. The Court-appointed attorney representing the minor child, as well as the father of the child, sought to divest the client of custody rights. The client nevertheless prevailed on all issues. Todd stepped into the case ten days before trial.
- Executive Employment***Obtained a complete defense verdict for the Chief Financial Officer of a publicly-traded company. The CFO’s former employer sued the client for breach of fiduciary duty and sought punitive damages, claiming the CFO had participated in an embezzlement scheme, engaged in self-dealing, and conspired to bring litigation against the company while still an officer. The jury’s verdict was unanimous. ***Achieved a seven-figure plaintiff’s verdict for an executive of a seismic equipment manufacturer who claimed age discrimination. The jury returned a verdict that the employer discriminated against the former executive when it terminated him, and did so willfully, resulting in a $1.5 million judgment that was the second-largest employment law verdict in Texas that year. ***Represented the departing senior executive team of a Fortune 500 oilfield equipment company in severance litigation against the acquiring company. The former executives alleged change-in-control provisions in their employment agreements triggered payments in excess of $25 million. The cases settled for a confidential sum. ***Spearheaded an internal company-wide investigation for an international energy company relating to allegations of senior executive misconduct.
- Business Litigation *** Obtained a complete defense verdict for a Houston petrochemical inspection company in a $10 million trademark infringement suit. After the parties rested, the Court dismissed the plaintiff’s trademark infringement claim against the client. The jury then deliberated on the client’s counterclaim to invalidate the plaintiff’s trademark. The jury awarded a verdict in the client’s favor and invalidated the trademark after one hour of deliberations. *** Successfully defended at trial two manufacturing executives and their new company in a $50 million theft of trade secrets action. Five days before jury selection, Todd stepped in as lead counsel. The plaintiff accused the clients of breaching fiduciary duties by forming a new company and joint venturing with a competitor, and also of funneling trade secrets to that competitor. The plaintiff claimed over $50 million in damages. At the end of the month-long trial, the jury awarded less than 2% of the plaintiff’s damages against the executives’ new company, and no-liability findings in favor of the executives themselves. On appeal, Todd obtained a complete reversal of the verdict, and the appellate court rendered a take-nothing judgment against the plaintiff. *** Won a jury verdict for a Houston-based industrial gas company in a multimillion fraud and breach of contract case. Todd’s cross-examination of opponent’s main expert ended with the witness admitting he was not, in fact, an expert. The jury rejected all of the plaintiffs’ multimillion dollar claims against the client, and awarded the client $1.7 million on its counterclaim, representing the client’s full damages, as well as attorneys’ fees. *** Defended against a $100 million breach of contract lawsuit related to the joint operation of a offshore pipeline system. A national upstream energy company brought the case against the client, itself a prominent midstream company. The plaintiff had previously prevailed on several contested issues in a related FERC action as part of the same controversy, and the plaintiff sought to enforce these findings against the client in the subsequent lawsuit. Todd took over the matter from prior counsel. Despite the adverse FERC rulings, the client eventually received a walk-away settlement *** Prosecuted a mineral lease dispute in South Texas for a publicly-traded exploration company. The landowner alleged that the client’s lease had terminated, barred the client from drilling wells, and brought tort and contract claims against the client. In response, Todd filed counterclaims against the landowner and also third-party claims against a competitor for conspiring with the landowner to block the drilling, while simultaneously draining the reservoir through nearby wells. Two weeks prior to trial, the landowner and competitor dropped their seven-figure damage claims against the client. The competitor also paid the client $5 million on its third-party claims for drainage, which amount represented nearly all of the client’s recoverable damages. *** Obtained a $25 million settlement for a Houston-based upstream natural gas company in a breach of contract and fraud lawsuit with a joint venture partner. The client alleged that its partner had overcharged and undercompensated the client through a complex web of affiliates and veiled related-party transactions. * Successfully defended a national auto parts supplier in a trade secret dispute in which the plaintiff sought over $10 million. After successfully asserting theories against several co-defendants as well as the plaintiff, the client settled the case for less than two percent of the plaintiff’s demand. *** Obtained summary judgment on behalf of national aftermarket auto parts manufacturer. The plaintiff alleged the client had participated in a fraud and kickback scheme that had resulted in millions of dollars in losses to the plaintiff. The Court dismissed the lawsuit against the client in its entirety. *** Obtained a plaintiff’s verdict in a three-week South Texas jury trial. The client, a California-based technology company, alleged that its manufacturing partner had breached its contract and committed fraud in the course of their partnership. The jury returned a verdict in the client’s favor, awarding it its lost profit damages as well as its out-of-pocket losses. *** Represented a multinational mid-stream energy company in a $30 million indemnity dispute relating to alleged legacy environmental contamination in Louisiana. The client received a walk-away settlement.
- Catastrophic Personal Injury Defense and OSHA***Represented an international specialty gas company before OSHA, and in wrongful death and catastrophic burn injury cases, arising out of a plant explosion. After a six-month OSHA investigation, OSHA did not issue the client a single citation. Todd then compelled the catastrophic personal injury cases to arbitration. Shortly thereafter, the cases settled for confidential sums. ***Achieved a complete defense verdict for a Houston medical group in a malpractice trial in which the parents of the child patient alleged that negligent care resulted in severe and long-term injuries ***Obtained a complete defense verdict for a drug provider alleged to have caused serious injuries by virtue of providing the incorrect drug to the plaintiff during her medical care. ***Handled a wrongful death case brought by the family of a worker against a Houston-based industrial cleaning company. Todd replaced prior counsel. Within two months, and after Todd successfully established that the plaintiffs’ claims were pre-empted, the plaintiffs non-suited their case.
- Environmental and Toxic Tort ***Defended an international pipeline company in a $100 million environmental suit brought by the State of New Jersey against the client and several other midstream energy companies. After several years of litigation, the State released the client for less than one percent of its original demand. ***Defended a gas storage company in a $50 million environmental mass action in Montana federal court. The plaintiffs, residents of a Montana city, accused the client, along with a handful of other defendants, of systematic pollution of the city’s water supply over a period of years. At the conclusion of discovery, the parties settled, with the client contributing less than two percent of the total settlement payment ***Obtained a complete dismissal on summary judgment of a $10 million qui tam action brought by the former employee of an offshore platform operator. The employee alleged that the client had committed violations of several state and federal anti-pollution laws through numerous unreported and unlawful releases into the Gulf of Mexico over the course of several years. ***Represented Harris County in a lawsuit against foreign downstream energy companies that resulted not only in historic fines against those companies, but also a series of groundbreaking concessions requiring that Harris County receive notice of pollution events. ***Currently representing an international fuel terminal company in multidistrict litigation in which the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania alleges widespread MTBE contamination of its public waters.
- Construction and Real Estate***Defended a national pipeline company where the plaintiff contractor alleged the client owed it more than $20 million for pipeline construction work. After aggressively pursuing a fraud counterclaim alleging the contractor had engaged in systematic fraudulent billing, the client settled the case for less than three percent of the plaintiff’s demand. ***Obtained a complete defense verdict for the owners of the Lancaster Hotel located in downtown Houston in a commercial real estate dispute. At the conclusion of the two-week trial, the jury deliberated for only two hours before unanimously rejecting each of the plaintiff’s claims. The jury also found against the plaintiff on counterclaims for statutory theft and conversion, and awarded punitive damages. ***Obtained a complete dismissal of a bet-the-company real estate lawsuit that included issues of first impression. Todd defended a national real estate firm in a matter closely monitored by lawyers, trade groups, and legislators across Texas. The case involved the application of a new series of legislative reforms that had not yet been interpreted by any court, and held significant implications for the industry. The Court issued a take-nothing judgment in favor of the client and construed the law in the client’s favor. ***Represented a multistate Houston real estate developer in a breach of contract suit in which the plaintiffs sought $30 million. Todd replaced prior counsel and immediately pursued several counterclaims against the plaintiffs. At the end of discovery, the case settled for less than three percent of the plaintiff’s demand.
Educational Background:
- Stanford University, A.B. in English, with honors, 1994
- University of Texas School of Law, J.D. Four-time recipient of the Dean’s Achievement Award, graduating in the top 10 percent of his class. , 1999
Special Licenses/Certifications:
- Mr. Mensing is Board Certified in Civil Trial Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, a distinction reserved for Texas trial lawyers with a high degree of trial experience and expertise. During the last 10 years, an average of fewer than ten attorneys per year statewide has earned the distinction., 2010
Honors/Awards:
- Mr. Mensing is recognized in Texas General Commercial Litigation in the 2014-2021 editions of Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business published by London-based Chambers and Partners., Recognized Practitioner, Chambers USA, 2021
- Mr. Mensing is a member of the Million Dollar Advocates Forum, whose members include attorneys who have secured verdicts in excess of one million dollars. Fewer than one percent of U.S. lawyers are members, and Mr. Mensing is one of the youngest attorneys in Texas to earn this distinction., Member, Million Dollar Advocates Forum
- Who's Who in Energy lists 2011-2014. This list of the top 100 leaders in energy is compiled by the Houston Business Journal and its affiliates., Who's Who in Energy, Houston Business Journal, 2014
- The Best Lawyers in America - Recognized among the top lawyers in the nation for commercial litigation from 2014-2022, Best Lawyers in America - US News & World Report, 2022
- Mr. Mensing was named one of Houston’s Best Lawyers by H Texas Magazine., Houston’s Best Lawyers, H Texas Magazine
Industry Groups:
- Automotive
- Chemical
- Construction
- Energy
- Government
- Oil And Gas
Office location for Todd W. Mensing
1221 McKinney Street
Suite 2500
Houston, TX 77010
Selections
13 Years Super Lawyers
1 Year Rising Stars
- Super Lawyers: 2004, 2013 - 2024
- Rising Stars: 2004