John Houghtaling Email & Phone Number

Houston, Texas/ Shanghai China

My litigation experience for developing energy companies led me into the field as an entrepreneur. In 2010 I became the CEO of Ocean Therapy Solutions, a company I founded with Kevin Costner. In the aftermath of the BP Horizon oil spill, we secured a $167 Million contract to deploy our technology on vessels managed by OMG offshore, a company I co-founded with Gary Chouest and Edison Chouset Offshore. In 2011 BP retained me as counsel for state and federal relations. In 2014, my business partners and I raised over $50 Million in initial capital, and $250 Million in contingent capital, for an Energy Sector start up. In 2016, I was elevated from general counsel to CEO of American Ethane, which is developing a U.S. ethane export terminal with an annual export capacity of 10 million tons annually. On November 9, 2017, I signed the largest gas deal in history between the US and China before President Trump and President Xi Jinping. To date as CEO I have signed gas trade deals with a gross value of 70 Billion dollars between American Ethane and three mahout companies in China.

New Orleans, Louisiana

I began my career in 1995 organizing files for $8 an hour for Wendell Gauthier and Bob Murphy’s firm which was leading a coalition of 100 law firms against the US tobacco industry, a battle that would led to the $365 Billion US tobacco settlement in 1998. In 2013, I was featured on the City Business Magazine cover in an article entitled "Famed New Orleans Practice Ruled by New Lawyer” describing how I rose from the file room to majority shareholder of the firm.1) PropertySince the Attorney General of Louisiana appointment in 2005 to fight for policyholders in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, I secured over $300 Million in insurance funds for disaster victims. In 2014, I was appointed as Federal Plaintiffs Liaison counsel for Superstorm Sandy. While representing thousands my legal team uncovered widespread fraud within the NFIP, and caused FEMA to admit to fraud in the underpayment of flood claims. Our negotiations reopened 144,000 claims and lead to the recovery of over $700 Million in underpayments. Our work lead to Congressional hearings, federal fines, and the criminal arrest of a key insurance executive.2) PIA year after passing the bar, I recovered $4.3 Million for a wrongful death claim. In 2002 I won a $7 million personal injury settlement. In 2004 I recovered $5.25 million for family members of a multi-death fatality. Later that same year, I recovered $4.7 Million against an insurance company that initially denied coverage for a drunk truck driver who killed a family child. In 2015 I led the expert liability case against the same insurer, and my legal team achieved a $49 Million verdict for a crippled mother.3) EnergyFrom 1998-2004 I litigated the development of the first IPP in El Salvador. In 2003 my legal team won $12 Million in an oil production dispute. In 2005 I achieved a $9.2 Million settlement for an energy developer, and in 2013 I settled a $17 Million fuel contract dispute with the largest privately owned gas company in the U.S.

Doctor Of Law - Jd, Contracts/ Insurance

Activities and Societies: Loyola Law Review

Bachelor'S Degree, Philosophy/Law