Phil C. Appenzeller, Jr.
Shareholder
Overview
Phil is the firm's Section Head of the Business Litigation group, which consists of over 40 attorneys in Dallas, Houston and Austin, Texas. He also served as a Business Development Coordinator for two years. Phil’s experience involves large commercial/complex litigation cases. Recently his practice focus has been representing bankruptcy trustees and creditors’ committees in litigation against former officers and directors and other professional advisors of failed companies. Phil also has experience in large breach of contract disputes, commercial mortgage backed securities litigation, patent infringement litigation, stockholder derivative litigation, officer and director liability, professional negligence partnership disputes and governmental contract disputes. He frequently represents clients in the technology, manufacturing, banking and financial industries.
Phil's trials include a large real estate fraud dispute on behalf of an appraiser in Dallas and received a complete defense verdict. He also represented a publicly traded bankrupt technology company in the Northern District of Texas Bankruptcy Court and defeated a shareholder take over attempt. Phil represented a large public telecommunications company in a Judicial Arbitration Mediation Services (JAMS) proceeding and successfully defended the company in a large breach of contract dispute.
Phil represents a large commercial mortgage backed securities firm on various litigation matters. He also represented the trustee of a large failed telecommunications company, SmarTalk Teleservices, Inc. in various pieces of litigation around the country. Phil served as lead trial counsel on behalf of the litigation trustee of ETS Payphones, Inc. in the Northern District of Georgia in a $400 million Ponzi scheme case against the officers and directors and attorney/advisors of that company. ETS Payphones, Inc. was previously the second largest payphone company in the nation and the Ponzi scheme case was one of the largest in the country. Phil currently serves as lead trial counsel for the creditors committee and/or the bankruptcy trustees of three other failed companies in Texas, Delaware and North Carolina regarding various claims against the officers and directors and professional advisors of those companies. Most recently Phil was named as lead trial counsel for the trustee in the VarTec bankruptcy in the Northern District of Texas and is pursuing director and officer claims in that litigation.
Phil also represents the trustee of a large commercial mortgage backed securities pool in claims against the loan sellers and the investors in a collateralized loan pool in claims against the Collateral Manager. Phil has tried cases in the federal courts for the Northern District of Texas, the Western District of Missouri and the Northern District of Georgia. His state trial experience includes litigation in both Texas and Missouri. Phil has also tried cases in various arbitration proceedings. Finally, Phil sits on the Criminal Justice Panel for the Northern District of Texas and is often court appointed to represent defendants in various federal criminal actions.
Prior to joining Munsch Hardt, Phil practiced law for three years in the United States Army Judge Advocate General Corp. where he obtained the rank of Captain and tried cases in the United States District Court, Middle District of Georgia and United States Courts Martial. He also worked in the Dallas branch office of a large Washington, DC based firm.
Memberships & Affiliations
- City of Mesquite, Civil Service Commissioner
- Dallas Association of Young Lawyers
- Dallas Bar Association
- Mesquite Education Foundation, Board of Directors
- State Bar of Texas
- State Bar of Missouri
- United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Criminal Justice Panel Member
Awards & Honors
- AV® Peer Rating, Martindale-Hubbell
- Rising Stars, Key Professional Media, Inc., 2004-2005
Admissions
- Missouri
- Texas
Articles & Speeches
- November 15-16, 2007 — Equity Turned on Its Head: The Applicability of in pari delicto to a Bankruptcy Trustee
- October 30, 2006 — Trustee May Face in pari delicto Defense to Claim: Defense Could Apply if Debtor Performed Same Bad Act as Defendant
- July 2005 — Deepening Insolvency is Liability Trap for the Unwary: Searching for a Scapegoat
- October 3, 2005 — Getting in Deep: Bankruptcy Theory could Pose Problems for Executives
- August 2005 — Equity Turned on Its Head: The Applicability of in pari delicto to a Bankruptcy Trustee
- March 9-12, 2005 — Deepening Insolvency Part 1: A Challenging New Theory or Just the Search for a Deeper Pocket?
