Steven D. Selbe

Steven Selbe is Senior Counsel in GRSM’s Houston office. He has been practicing law since 1987. Prior to joining GRSM, he established the Houston litigation section of his prior firm.

Steven defends serious personal injury cases and litigates complex commercial disputes. He is involved in oil and gas litigation including surface damage cases, collection of joint interest billings, insurance disputes involving “pollution” damages, and relevant exclusions in insurance policies. He also works with issues involving indemnity provisions and has defended hundreds of cases involving oil field and industrial personal injury accidents and related OSHA citations.

He has represented Fortune 500 energy companies in oil and gas litigation, and a variety of commercial entities, including publicly traded companies, in business litigation matters. Steven’s active products liability defense practice includes defense of equipment and vehicle manufacturers and nutritional supplement retailers.

The representation of local governmental entities and public officials has been a passion of Steven’s during his twenty-seven year career. He has defended numerous cities and police officers in civil rights claims involving excessive force, false arrests and illegal searches. He also defends governmental entities in premise defect claims, takings claims and serious automobile accident cases.

Steven is Board Certified in Personal Injury Trial Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization and is authorized as an OSHA 10- and 30- hour General Industry Outreach Program Trainer.

Admissions

• Texas
• All United States District Courts, Texas
• United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit

Memberships

• Board Certified in Personal Injury Trial Law by Texas Board of Legal Specialization
• State Bar of Texas, Governmental and Personal Injury Sections
• 2002 Texas State Bar “General Negligence” Pattern Jury Charge Committee

Community Involvement

• Active in Lake Houston YMCA Adventure Guides Program
• Active Member, St. Martha’s Catholic Church, Kingwood, Texas

Representative Experience

• Defeated claim by oilfield operator against tubing distributor which had supplied tubing for a work-over operation. Operator alleged that tubing had failed because it failed to meet A.P.I. standards. Houston Office of Gordon and Rees, led by Steven Selbe, was able to prove through metallurgical expert testimony that tubing in fact met A.P.I standards and down-hole failure was the result of corrosive down-hole environment of well in question. Summary judgment was granted by Leon County Judge dismissing counterclaim and awarding distributor the full sales price for the tubing along with interest, attorney’ fees and costs.
• Obtained dismissal with prejudice for oilfield casing retailer which supplied casing for a west Texas horizontal well. After being able to prove that casing failure occurred at depth at which casing had not been supplied by GRSM client, the claim against the retailer was dismissed with prejudice when a demand letter was sent requesting fees and costs for frivolous claim under the Texas Rules.
• Defended the City of Baytown, Texas and its driver in a lawsuit involving a four-car automobile accident. The Plaintiff and co-defendant contended that the accident had been initiated by the city driver while the City’s position was that the co-defendant had been the total cause of the accident. The Plaintiff sought nearly $80,000 in damages arising from the accident. After 4 hours of deliberation, in a 10-2 verdict, the jury found that the city driver was not negligent and that the co-defendant was negligent.
• Successfully defended a fast growing Houston Technology Company in multi-million dollar contractual claim by third-party contractor. Conducted all discovery, developed defenses and achieved complete victory on all issues from arbitrator after two day arbitration hearing.
• Achieved a dismissal of traffic control/sign contractor in wrongful death action in Jefferson County, Texas. Contractor had provided signs for traffic construction project and was sued for providing incorrect signage and/or incorrect placement. After discovery, including depositions of representatives of Contractor, Plaintiffs chose to dismiss Contractor completely from lawsuit.
• Successfully prosecuted breach of contract claim for Fortune 500 corporation against another publicly traded corporation arising from purchase agreement. Discovery completed and case tried to Federal Judge within six months of filing lawsuit.
• Worked with John Dwyer of Los Angeles office to achieve summary judgment victory for crane manufacturer in catastrophic injury case filed in Galveston County, Texas. Manufacturer was sued under both negligence and products liability theories. After discovery was partially complete, summary judgment motion was filed and granted by District Judge.

Publications & Presentations

• Steven is a frequent presenter in governmental entity liability seminars, writing and speaking on “Interlocutory Appeals” and “Structured Settlements.” His employment law presentations have included issues such as the ADA, reductions in force, and other “hot topics” in employment law.

Education

J.D., University of Kansas School of Law, 1987

B.A., magna cum laude, Fort Hays State University, 1984