Testifying Experts in Case
Ron Luke, JD, PhD, and Cameron Holstead, CPA, CVA, PhD, provided economic and accounting analysis and testimony for the plaintiff ES3 Minerals LLC (“ES3”) in its successful litigation against the owners of Liberty Mineral Partners LLC (“LMP”) for theft of ES3’s intellectual property, breach of employment contracts, and breach of fiduciary duty.
RPC was retained by ES3’s counsel, Michael Marin of the Boulette Golden & Marin law firm. The case was one of the first cases to be tried to a verdict in the Business Court of Texas. The jury trial lasted from February 23 to March 9, 2026. The case is Cause No. 24-BC03B-0005.
ES3’s business involves buying and selling oil and gas interests in Texas, primarily in the Permian Basin. ES3’s founder, Trey Stanton, developed proprietary software and scripts that gave ES3 a competitive advantage. He organized ES3 in silos to protect the intellectual property. Unfortunately, his senior managers conspired to take the intellectual property and create a competing company, LMP.
LMP chose not to prepare internal financial statements and produced only records of individual mineral interest transactions and bank/credit card statements. Dr. Holstead organized these records to show LMP’s revenues and profits.
Dr. Luke used Dr. Holstead’s analysis of LMP and the financial records of ES3 to show how LMP’s actions had reduced ES3’s profits up to the time of trial and to exclude other possible causes of the reduced profits. Dr. Luke also based his opinions in part on the work of other ES3 experts, Dr. Ray Perryman and Steven Hatcher.
Judge Patrick K. Sweeten rendered his judgement on June 22, 2026. A copy can be found here. The court ordered LMP and the three owners individually to pay ES3 actual damages, exemplary damages, costs, prejudgment interest, and attorney fees totaling $60,977,776 as of the date of the verdict.
Judge Sweeten also granted equitable relief by prohibiting LMP and its owners from using the intellectual property misappropriated from ES3 and prohibited transactions to conceal assets.
RPC is continuing to provide ES3 with forensic accounting services during LMP’s appeal of the judgment.
If you have questions or would like to discuss a case, please contact Ron Luke, JD, PhD, at 512.371.8166, rluke@rpcconsulting.com.
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