1. Business Litigation. Throughout his thirty-five years of practice, he has litigated a wide variety of business disputes including: various breach of contract actions, bad faith breach of contract, fiduciary litigation involving corporations and partnerships, franchise litigation, litigation for credit corporations and banks including litigation of Chapter 11 cases in bankruptcy court.
2. Employment - Title VII Litigation. In the 1970s and early 1980s, Ernest tried three Title VII class actions including a statewide case involving eight Georgia-Pacific manufacturing facilities. EEOC v. Georgia-Pacific, 450 F. Supp. 1227 (N.D. Miss. 1977).
3. Oil and Gas.
● Piney Woods Country Life School v. Shell Oil Company, 726 F.2d 225 (5th Cir. 1984) - Ernest represented a class of royalty owners against Shell Oil Company. The suit involved the right of royalty owners to be paid market value for natural gas, the methodology for determining the market value of natural gas and whether plant processing costs could be deducted from royalty payments. The case lasted more than 20 years with four appeals to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.
● Wright v. Shell Oil Company, 532 So. 2d 567 (Miss. 1988) - He successfully challenged the Oil and Gas Board’s interpretation of its regulation as to the rights of a minority working interest owner against excessive drilling charges deducted by the operator. This case resulted in the Oil and Gas Board revising its regulations.
● Pipeline Litigation. From 1983 to the early 1990s, he defended Tennessee Gas Pipeline Company, a subsidiary of Tenneco, Inc., in numerous multi-million dollar “take-or-pay” suits, which grew out of the collapse in the oil and gas markets and deregulation of the natural gas pipeline industry.
4. Environmental
● Dioxin Litigation. In the mid-1990s, Ernest defended Weyerhaeuser Corporation in suits by property owners alleging damages from Weyerhaeuser’s discharge of dioxin into the Tennessee Tombigbee Waterway. He also represented a coalition of businesses including paper/pulp mills before the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality regarding setting the ambient water quality standard for dioxin in Mississippi.
● Tire Manufacturing Wastes. He defended Armstrong Rubber Company in Natchez, Mississippi, in multiple suits from 1990 to 2000 concerning disposal of toxic wastes, including claims for property damage, health, emotional distress, punitive damages and remediation. See Berry v. Armstrong Rubber Co., 989 F.2d 822 (5th Cir. 1993); Bradley v. Armstrong Rubber Co., 130 F. 3d 168 (5th Cir. 1997).
● Bank Liability as PRP. He represented a railroad company against a bank, which financed a business that caused contamination on the railroad right-of-way, for the cleanup costs of the site. This was a case of first impression, which required the court to interpret the scope of Miss. Code Ann. § 17-17-29(4), i.e., may a bank be a PRP under state law. Midsouth Rail Corp. v. Citizens Bank & Trust Co., 697 So. 2d 451 (Miss. 1997). After the trial court’s ruling, the legislature amended the Mississippi environmental statute to provide protection for banks.
● Refinery/Benzene. He defended operators of an oil refinery in simultaneous administrative proceedings, civil damage litigation and criminal prosecution. Barrett Refining Corp. v. Mississippi Commission on Environmental Quality, 752 So. 2d 1104 (Miss. Ct. App. 1999) (appeal of administrative penalties); Curtis v. M & S Petroleum, Inc. 174 F.3d 661 (5th Cir. 1999) (civil damage litigation).
5. Land Title/Property Rights/U.S. Supreme Court Cases.
● In the 1980s, he represented private property owners in Hancock County in a precedent-setting public trust doctrine case concerning the location of the private/state property boundary in the tidal zone along the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Cinque Bambini Partnership v. State, 491 So. 2d 508 (Miss. 1986), aff’d. sub nom., Phillips Petroleum Co. v. Mississippi, 484 U.S. 469 (1988); and subsequently, defended the constitutionality of remedial legislation, Miss. Code Ann. § 29-15-1, et seq.; Secretary of State v. Wiesenberg, 633 So. 2d 983 (Miss. 1994).
● Beggerly v. United States, 114 F.3d 484 (5th Cir. 1997); rev’d., 118 S.Ct. 1862 (1998) - He represented the Beggerly family in their inverse condemnation claim that the federal government had wrongfully taken the Beggerly property on Horn Island, a Mississippi barrier island. He handled all phases of the litigation, which involved the validity of an 18th century Spanish land grant, from drafting the complaint through briefing and argument in the United States Supreme Court.
· In the 1970s he represented the Jackson Redevelopment Authority in condemning two square blocks of land in downtown Jackson. See Jackson Redevelopment Authority vs. King, Inc., 364 So.2d 1104 (Miss. 1978) (defended the constitutionality of the enabling legislation).
6. Mediation and Arbitration. He completed a 40-hour course of study at Texas Attorney-Mediators Institute in September 1998, and was included in the Mississippi Bar’s first list of approved Mississippi mediators issued in 1999, the Southern Arbitration & Mediation, L.L.C. list, and the Alternative Dispute Resolution Panel of Neutrals in the United States District Courts for the Northern and Southern Districts of Mississippi. Ernest has mediated and arbitrated cases involving a variety of issues including business contract disputes, automobile accidents, bad faith timber cutting, construction litigation and attorney fee disputes.