Todd Mensing has secured jury verdicts totaling nearly $70 million across two of the most closely watched commercial trials in recent Texas litigation history. The $41.8 million verdict in SilverBow Resources v. ETC Field Services and the $28 million verdict in Port of Houston Authority v. Louis Dreyfus Company represent the kind of outcomes that make headlines. The money, however, doesn’t arrive when the jury foreman reads the number. Between a jury’s decision and actual recovery lies a procedural gauntlet that can take years to complete.
What happens after a jury verdict gets far less attention than the trial itself, yet it often determines whether a client collects anything at all. The distance between “we won” and “we collected” can span dozens of motions, appellate briefs, and courtroom arguments that most people never see.
The Gap Between Verdict and Judgment
A jury verdict is an answer to a question. Specifically, it’s the jury’s response to the charge, a set of written questions submitted by the court. In the SilverBow Resources case, tried in the 343rd District Court of McMullen County before Judge Janna Whatley, the jury returned its unanimous verdict on February 2, 2023. The 12 jurors found that Energy Transfer’s subsidiary, ETC Field Services, had committed trespass by injecting natural gas processing waste byproducts, including hydrogen sulfide and carbon dioxide, into the subsurface near Tilden, Texas. The jury concluded those injections interfered with the exploration and production rights of SilverBow Resources and El Dorado Gas & Oil.
The damages broke down to $24.5 million for SilverBow and $17.3 million for El Dorado, covering lost net revenues from future wells and the cost of plugging and abandoning existing ones. But the verdict itself was not the judgment. Judge Whatley signed the final judgment on April 19, 2023, more than two months after the jury spoke. That gap exists because Texas trial courts retain what’s called “plenary power” over a case, and the period between verdict and judgment is when the losing side files its first round of challenges.
Post-Trial Motions: The First Line of Attack
Under the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure, a party dissatisfied with the verdict has 30 days after the judgment is signed to file a motion for a new trial or a motion to modify, correct, or reform the judgment (TRCP 329b). These motions carry real weight. They are the primary mechanism for attacking a verdict before it reaches the appellate courts, and they cover several categories of alleged error.
A motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict (JNOV) asks the trial court to override the jury’s findings on the grounds that no reasonable jury could have reached that conclusion. A motion for a new trial can challenge evidentiary rulings, jury charge errors, or newly discovered evidence. Remittitur, a request to reduce the damages award, argues that the amount exceeds what the evidence supports.
If the trial court doesn’t rule on a motion for a new trial within 75 days after signing the judgment, that motion is overruled by operation of law. The court then loses plenary power 30 days later. These deadlines are rigid. Missing them forecloses options entirely.
The Appellate Track
Once post-trial motions are resolved, the case moves to the appellate courts. In the Texas state court, a party generally has 30 days after the judgment is signed to file a notice of appeal, or 90 days if a timely post-trial motion was filed (TRAP 26.1). The SilverBow verdict, ranked 15th among the largest in Texas for 2023 by The National Law Journal, followed this track. Energy Transfer filed its notice of appeal, and the case moved to the Fourth Court of Appeals in San Antonio. A briefing schedule was set by a Fourth Court order dated September 2025, more than two years after the original verdict.
That timeline is not unusual. Texas appellate courts handle large dockets, and briefing alone requires the appellant to file an opening brief, the appellee to respond, and the appellant to reply. Each filing carries its own deadline, typically 30 days apart but frequently extended by agreement or court order. Oral argument, if granted, follows briefing. A decision from the intermediate appellate court can take months after argument.
The National Law Journal and TopVerdict.com both placed the SilverBow verdict on their Top 100 national lists for 2023. That recognition reflects the verdict’s scale, but it says nothing about what happens during appeal. The appellate court can affirm the trial court’s judgment, reverse it, modify the damages, or remand for a new trial. Each outcome restarts a different clock.
Federal Court: A Different but Parallel Process
Todd Mensing has also navigated the federal post-trial process. In the Port of Houston Authority v. Louis Dreyfus Company case (case no. 4:19-cv-00746, S.D. Texas), a jury in Judge Lynn Hughes’ courtroom returned a $28 million verdict for the Port of Houston in March 2022. The dispute centered on Louis Dreyfus’ failure to maintain a portside grain elevator it had leased from the government between 2008 and 2018. The lack of upkeep produced massive corrosion, conveyor and structural tower failures, and dust system breakdowns.
Federal post-trial procedure under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure follows a similar logic but different timelines. Rule 50(b) governs renewed motions for judgment as a matter of law (the federal equivalent of JNOV), which must be filed within 28 days after judgment. Rule 59 covers motions for a new trial on the same 28-day deadline. Rule 62 addresses stays of execution pending appeal.
The federal appellate track runs through the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, headquartered in New Orleans. Briefing schedules, while structured, can stretch across many months. The Fifth Circuit’s median disposition time for civil cases has hovered around 10 to 12 months in recent years, though complex commercial cases with large records often take longer.
What Appellate Courts Actually Review
Appellate courts do not retry cases. They do not hear new evidence or evaluate witness credibility. Their review is limited to the record created at trial: the exhibits, testimony, and rulings preserved by counsel. This is why trial preparation carries weight that extends far beyond the courtroom.
For a verdict like the $41.8 million award in SilverBow, the appellate issues are likely to include the sufficiency of evidence supporting the damages, the propriety of the jury charge, and whether the trial court correctly applied the law of subsurface trespass. Texas law on subsurface trespass in the oil and gas context is still developing, which means the Fourth Court of Appeals may be writing on questions that the Texas Supreme Court has not fully resolved.
Todd Mensing’s trial record includes more than 60 cases tried to verdict. He is Board Certified in Civil Trial Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization and was elected to the American Board of Trial Advocates, or ABOTA, in 2014. That record reflects a practice built around exactly this kind of high-value work. His Chambers USA ranking in General Commercial Litigation for the Houston market recognizes both trial capability and the appellate outcomes that follow.
The Client’s Experience
For the companies on either side of these verdicts, the post-trial period is defined by uncertainty. A plaintiff that won $41.8 million at trial doesn’t budget that figure until the appellate courts have spoken. A defendant facing that same number doesn’t write a check while appellate options remain open. Both sides continue to incur legal costs. Appellate briefing requires specialized skill, and the record in a multi-week commercial trial can run thousands of pages.
Supersedeas bonds add another layer. In Texas, a judgment debtor can post a bond to stay the enforcement of the judgment during appeal. The bond amount is generally capped at the lesser of 50% of the judgment debtor’s net worth or $25 million for compensatory damages (Texas Civil Practice & Remedies Code § 52.006). For a $41.8 million verdict, the bond calculation itself can become a contested issue.
The distance between verdict and final resolution explains why trial lawyers like Todd Mensing at AZA Law emphasize building records that can withstand appellate scrutiny. Every evidentiary objection, every jury charge conference, every expert designation is a building block for or against the verdict’s durability on appeal.
A jury verdict is the most visible moment in commercial litigation. It is rarely the last.
