Bruse is an experienced and versatile attorney who has successfully handled many types of legal matters for firm clients over two decades. He represents individuals, businesses, and organizations and has litigated, arbitrated, and mediated hundreds of cases as lead counsel in over twenty states. His practice areas include, but are not limited to, business litigation and law, employment litigation and law, oil and gas litigation, fiduciary litigation and whistle-blower litigation. He is primarily a litigator but assists firm clients with many transactional and administrative matters. Firm clients find Bruse to be responsive, diligent, creative and trustworthy.
Bruse’s work involves representing firm clients before state and federal courts at every level. He has represented firm clients before the Department of Justice, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Department of Labor, the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the National Collegiate Athletic Association, the Texas Department of Insurance, the Public Utility Commission of Texas, the Texas Workforce Commission and numerous state attorneys general.
In the sports arena, Bruse has been called upon to represent athletes and athletic staff before school tribunals and the NCAA. He has defended and counseled these firm clients in matters involving allegations of school policy violations, recruiting rules violations, impermissible benefits, transfer eligibility issues, testing for banned substances and sexual assault. Bruse also counseled and represented former players in the NFL class action concussion litigation and has represented NFL cheerleaders in labor arbitration.
In media and entertainment, Bruse has represented several television broadcasting companies and their associated television stations, various media organizations, media executives, producers, writers and entertainers. He has made his own contribution to media, providing on-air legal commentary for television, radio, and podcasts on dozens of occasions.
Bruse has several years of extensive and varied experience working with national and regional media on behalf of firm clients whose cases have attracted public attention. He has presented his clients’ cases to reporters and producers from the Big Four television networks, ESPN, ABC’s Nightline, CBS’s 60 Minutes, USA Today, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post and many other media organizations, to ensure that his clients’ side of the story is told.
Primary Areas of Practice
- Business Litigation and Law
- Employment Litigation and Law
- Product Liability Litigation
- Fiduciary Litigation
- Qui Tam and Whistle-blower Litigation
- Class and Collective Action Litigation
Admitted to Practice
- Texas
- U.S. Supreme Court
- U.S Tax Court
- U.S. Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit
- U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas
- U.S. District Court for the Western District of Arkansas
- U.S. District Court for Colorado
- U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
- U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana
- U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas
- U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas
- U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas
- U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas
- U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin
Education
- Rice University, B.A.
- South Texas College of Law – Houston, J.D.
Professional and Community Involvement
- Member, American Bar Association
- Member, Texas Bar Association (Member, Litigation Section)
- Member, Houston Bar Association (Member, Litigation Section)
- Lifetime Member, Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo (Vice Chairman 2005-2007)
- Lifetime Member, Rice University “R” Association (Football Letterman)
Representative Cases
- Kellner, et al. v. XTO Energy, Inc., et al.; In the 81st / 218th State District Court of Atascosa County, Texas — The firm was retained by two of the five operators sued in this lawsuit alleging non-payment and under-payment of $63,000,000 in oil and gas royalties. Working as a team with some of the best oil and gas lawyers in the country, all defendants were able to have the case dismissed on summary judgment.
- Bayou City Broadcasting, Inc. v. Dish Network, Inc.; In the United States District Court for Colorado (Denver Division) — The firm was retained by the television broadcasting company to pursue its claims against Dish Network for non-payment of retransmission fees. The firm successfully prosecuted the case, quickly reaching a settlement for all fees owed, plus interest. The case received extensive coverage in the television broadcasting industry media.
- Carrizo Oil & Gas, Inc. v. GE Oil & Gas Pressure Control, LP, et al.; In the 215th State District Court of Harris County, Texas — The firm successfully defended a ring gasket manufacturer after it was sued in a Texas court for allegedly supplying General Electric with a faulty ring gasket that GE inserted into a frac-valve assembly causing an explosion at an oil well site in the Marcellus Shale geological formation in northeast Pennsylvania. Through the use of metallurgical testing and expert testimony, the firm succeeded in having $6,000,000 in environmental remediation claims against its client dismissed by the court for lack of evidence, months before trial.
- NCAA v. The University of Mississippi, et al.; Indianapolis, Indiana, Oxford, Mississippi and Covington, Kentucky — The firm was retained to represent a former University of Mississippi (“Ole Miss”) football staff member in response to the February 2017 Amended Notice of Allegations issued by the NCAA to Ole Miss and various charged parties, alleging extensive violations of NCAA legislation. The firm represented its client through the NCAA briefing, hearing and appeals process. The case was precedent setting in that it was the first time the NCAA had given an active student-athlete limited immunity and required that he be present at the hearing before the Committee on Infractions to answer questions about his allegations.
- Sealed Plaintiff v. Sealed Defendant; In an unnamed United States District Court — The firm represented a whistle-blower against one of the world’s largest entities. The case culminated in a settlement of $166,000,000 paid to 48 states and the federal government. The case is sealed and the whistle-blower is under a permanent federal injunction not to reveal any details of the proceedings.
- P.G.G. v. Houston NFL Holdings, LP; In the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas (Houston Division) — The firm was retained by several former professional cheerleaders to represent them against the NFL’s Houston Texans in a labor dispute involving alleged underpayment of wages and disparate treatment.
- Kujanek v. Houston Poly Bag I, LP; United States Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals (New Orleans, Louisiana) — The firm represented executive Kenneth Kujanek in this appeal to the Fifth Circuit by his former employer, Houston Poly Bag I, LP. The Houston trial court entered a summary judgment against the employer, finding that the company had breached its fiduciary duty to Kujanek in the administration of his benefits plan in violation of ERISA, causing him substantial financial damage. Lead counsel, Kathleen A. O’Connor, and Bruse Loyd, conducted oral argument on behalf of Mr. Kujanek before a panel of Fifth Circuit justices in New Orleans, LA. The appeals court upheld the trial court’s finding of breach of fiduciary duty. See Kujanek v. Houston Poly Bag I, Ltd., 658 F.3d 483.
- R.A.M., LLC, et al. v. Hill, et al.; In the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida (West Palm Beach Division) — The firm was retained by the defendants to represent them in what began primarily as a business divorce and evolved into a trademark dispute spanning several states. The firm successfully defended the case, winning at the trial level and ultimately settling the case at a mediation ordered by the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals.
- Integrated Solutions, Inc. v. Global Data Systems, Inc.; In the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas (Austin Division) — The firm was retained by Global Data Systems, Inc. to defend it against the claim that it had breached a Letter of Intent between the parties, effectively killing a merger with the plaintiff and causing plaintiff to lose hundreds of thousands of dollars spent putting the deal together. The firm’s defense was successful, winning a unanimous jury verdict before legendary United States District Judge Sam Sparks.
- Network of Neighbors, Incorporated v. Scott and Danielle Pendergraft; In the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas (Houston Division) and the United States Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals (New Orleans, Louisiana) — The firm was retained by a Massachusetts charity to pursue litigation in Texas against Scott Richard Pendergraft and Danielle Pauline Pendergraft n/k/a Danielle Dobiecki f/k/a Danielle Ravitch for allegedly embezzling funds from the charity while acting in their fiduciary capacities as board members and he as the treasurer. After a trial in Houston, the court ruled that the Pendergrafts had acted with a “criminal state of mind” when taking the money from the charity and further ruled that the Pendergrafts’ resulting debt to the charity was ineligible for discharge in their personal bankruptcy case. The court’s ruling was upheld by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals and a subsequent petition for writ of certiorari filed by the defendants was denied by the United States Supreme Court. During the course of these proceedings it was revealed Danielle is an ex-con, having served time in prison for fraud. In an unrelated but parallel insurance fraud case in which the firm assisted the authorities, Scott Pendergraft was sentenced to five (5) years in a Texas prison, which he began serving in December 2017.
Media Coverage
- Fox Television KADN News 15: ‘Facing Blackface’
- ABC News ‘Nightline’: ‘Ex-Houston Texans cheerleaders suing NFL team’
- The New York Times: Cheerleader Sues Houston Texans’
- Sports Illustrated: ‘Ex-Cheerleaders sue NFL Team, what is their case?’
- Vineyard Gazette — Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts: ‘NeighborIy Non-Profit Wins Court Battle in Tale of Betrayal’
- The Washington Post: ‘Ole Miss Football pinned its NCAA scandal to a rogue assistant’
- ESPN: ‘Hugh Freeze Ouster resulting from an odd pairing’
- USA Today: ‘Bruse Loyd denies Ole Miss’ claims against his client, Barney Farrar’
- Houstonia Magazine: Firm’s Bruse Loyd named ‘Top Lawyer’
- Law 360: ‘HP, HP Enterprise Hit with Age Bias Suit over Layoffs’
- TV News Check — Washington, DC: ‘WEVV Resolves Dish Network Retrans Suit’
- Houston Chronicle: ‘Understand Your Rights When You Choose to Cruise’
- The New York Law Journal: ‘Former Client Sues Fulbright’
