Decades ago, Trevor Rees-Jones offered his former law partner Robert B. Allen a business deal that later earned Allen $8.2 million. Yet on July 28, Houston’s 1st Court of Appeals allowed a suit to go forward in which Allen alleges if not for Rees-Jones’ “fraud,” Allen would be $100 million richer.
The story of the two former Thompson & Knight partners, according to the 1st Court’s decision in Allen v. Devon Energy Holdings, et al. , is as follows: In the early 1980s, Rees-Jones, a bankruptcy lawyer, and Allen, an oil and gas transactions lawyer, became friends while working at the firm. In 1984, Rees-Jones left his practice and went into the oil and gas business. Ten years later, Rees-Jones formed a company to pursue natural gas exploration and production in North Texas. He solicited Allen to invest in the company and Allen became an 8 percent equity owner in return for his $700 investment and a $34,300 certificate of deposit that was collateral for a line of credit.
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