Jerry 'JJ' Knauff

J.J. Knauff is a civil litigator with more than two decades of experience representing businesses, insurers, property owners, contractors, operators, and transportation clients in complex disputes throughout Texas. His practice emphasizes trucking and motor-vehicle litigation, oil and gas matters, construction and design-defect disputes, hospitality and premises-liability claims, insurance coverage, personal injury, property damage, and commercial contract disputes.

Mr. Knauff handles matters from early investigation through trial and appeal. His work includes accident and incident investigation, written discovery, motion practice, briefing, fact and expert depositions, mediation and settlement strategy, trial preparation, jury and bench trials, appellate briefing, and oral argument. He has investigated accidents and claims across Texas—from Waskom to El Paso, Brownsville to Canadian—and has first-chair trial experience in state and federal courts, including courts in Bowie, Collin, Dallas, Ector, Harris, Hood, Johnson, Live Oak, Midland, Reagan, Tarrant, and Winkler Counties, as well as the Eastern District of Texas and the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Texas.

His clients have included oil and gas operators and service companies, pipeline and plant operators, trucking companies and fleet operators, construction contractors, manufacturers, hospitality businesses, real-estate interests, and insurers. His background includes matters involving negligence and gross negligence, wrongful death, trucking and commercial-vehicle accidents, industrial incidents, products liability, construction defects, breach of contract and warranty, nuisance, trespass, property damage, insurance coverage, and real-property disputes.

Before entering private practice, Mr. Knauff served as a briefing attorney to Justice Tom James of the Fifth District Court of Appeals in Dallas. That experience informs his trial practice and appellate work, where he has handled more than twenty appeals and original proceedings in Texas intermediate appellate courts and the Supreme Court of Texas.

Representative Experience

• Nathan McFarland v. Benito Sanchez and MICA Corporation, 67th Judicial District Court, Tarrant County, Texas — Second three-day motor-vehicle negligence jury trial resolved through a favorable confidential settlement after the first trial resulted in a hung jury; the plaintiff’s pretrial demand was $2 million.
• Jesus Cantu Cervantes, Jr., et al. v. Gionna Janae Shears, et al., County Court at Law No. 4, Dallas County, Texas — Defense verdict in a negligence automobile-accident bench trial.
• Annette and Paul Des Camps v. John Tanner Kirkham and STRC Oilfield Technology, LLC, 18th Judicial District Court, Johnson County, Texas — Unanimous defense verdict after a three-day motor-vehicle negligence jury trial. The plaintiff sought more than $1 million at trial following a pre-verdict demand exceeding $900,000.
• Michael Timpson and Vicki Timpson v. Greg A. Gillum, Lynne R. Gillum and Porter Green LLC, 397th Judicial District Court, Grayson County, Texas — Four-day jury trial involving negligence, gross negligence, breach of contract, trespass, and nuisance claims; resolved before verdict for 60 percent less than the plaintiffs’ final pretrial demand.
• Boyd & McWilliams Energy Group, Inc., et al. v. NCS Multistage, LLC, et al., 100th Judicial District Court, Winkler County, Texas — Seven-day negligence, breach-of-warranty, and products-liability jury trial.
• Zachariah Cook v. Aimbridge Hospitality, LLC, Hyatt Corporation, and CRP/SH Galleria Plaza Hotel Owner, LP, 471st Judicial District Court, Collin County, Texas — Four-day personal-injury jury trial involving negligence and gross-negligence claims. Although liability was conceded and the plaintiff requested between $12.6 million and $450 million from the jury, the jury awarded $77,500.
• Maria De Los Angeles Rodriguez, et al. v. EnLink Midstream Operating, LP, et al., 95th Judicial District Court, Dallas County, Texas — Defense verdict following a two-and-one-half-week electrocution wrongful-death jury trial in which plaintiffs sought more than $100 million.
• Erica J. Milligan v. Mesquite Services, LLC, 202nd Judicial District Court, Bowie County, Texas — Four-day negligent-undertaking and gross-negligence trucking trial resolved before verdict for 30 percent less than the plaintiff’s final pretrial demand.
• Progressive County Mutual Insurance Company v. Gonzalo Pluas and Turbo Express, LLC, 14th Judicial District Court, Dallas County, Texas — Defense verdict in a motor-vehicle negligence bench trial.
• Lario Oil Company v. Steel Energy Services, Ltd. and Black Hawk Energy Services, Ltd., 238th Judicial District Court, Midland County, Texas — Five-day property-damage, contract, and negligence jury trial. The jury found for the clients and awarded $850,000 on their counterclaim for breach of contract.
• Mark Hall and Susan Hall v. Pecan Plantation Homeowners Association, Inc., 355th Judicial District Court, Hood County, Texas — Directed verdict for the client in a $500,000 property-damage jury trial.
• Rosa Molina v. Fortune Partners, Inc. d/b/a Texas Certified Motors, 161st Judicial District Court, Ector County, Texas — Five-day personal-injury trial in which the plaintiff sought $1 million but received a $30,000 jury award.
• Josephina Garcia, et al. v. Manhattan Vaughn, JVP, 80th Judicial District Court, Harris County, Texas — Three-week personal-injury jury trial involving claimed damages of $100 million; the matter resolved for the client for less than six figures, while the jury returned a $54 million verdict against other defendants.
• Heritage Standard Corporation v. Apollo Perforators, Inc., U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Texas — Ten-day, $63 million property-damage bench trial.
• Gilman Treviso v. One Source Industrial, Inc., 161st Judicial District Court, Ector County, Texas — Defense verdict after a five-day personal-injury jury trial involving claimed damages of $1.6 million.

Appellate Experience

Mr. Knauff’s appellate experience includes original proceedings and appeals before multiple Texas courts of appeals and the Supreme Court of Texas. Selected reported matters include:

• In re Eagleridge Operating, LLC, 642 S.W.3d 518 (Tex. 2022)
• In re EnLink Midstream, LLC, 2021 Tex. App. LEXIS 9988 (Tex. App.—Dallas Dec. 16, 2021, orig. proceeding)
• In re Pioneer Natural Resources USA, Inc., 2020 Tex. App. LEXIS 7098 (Tex. App.—Dallas Aug. 31, 2020, orig. proceeding)
• Banta Oilfield Services v. Mewbourne Oil Co., 568 S.W.3d 692 (Tex. App.—Texarkana 2018, pet. denied)
• EXCO Resources, Inc. v. Cudd Pressure Control, Inc., 2016 Tex. App. LEXIS 4874 (Tex. App.—Dallas May 9, 2016, no pet.)
• DeLeon v. Thos. S. Byrne, Ltd., 2014 Tex. App. LEXIS 10485 (Tex. App.—Fort Worth Sept. 18, 2014, pet. denied)
• Tutle & Tutle Trucking, Inc. v. EOG Resources, Inc., 391 S.W.3d 240 (Tex. App.—Waco 2012, pet. dism’d)

Recognition and Leadership

Mr. Knauff has been named to America’s Top 100 Civil Defense Litigators for Northern Texas in 2018 and each year from 2020 through 2025. He was selected to the Super Lawyers Texas Rising Stars list in 2010 and 2012. His other recognitions include the State Bar of Texas–Law Student Division Legal Professionalism Award, the American Bar Association–Law Student Division Student of the Year recognition, and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram “Man of the Year” award.

He is a published author in the Texas Wesleyan Law Review, Defense Counsel Journal, Baylor Law Review, and Brigham Young University Education & Law Journal. He has also presented on insurance-defense and civil-litigation issues for the American Bar Association and industry organizations, including topics involving the duty to defend, pre-notice defense costs, claims handling, bad faith, and litigation involving undocumented workers.

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