Crain Caton & James

Overview

Caroline works in the environmental, health, and safety (EHS) section of the firm, and utilizes her corporate and litigation experience to provide transactional, compliance and litigation legal services involving EHS legal matters.

Caroline is part of a team of experienced EHS attorneys who advise a wide range of clients on EHS matters including representing clients in various EHS-related litigation matters, including Superfund cost recovery cases, toxic tort lawsuits, property contamination cases, and various administrative law cases before governmental agencies.  Caroline conducts and oversees EHS compliance audits to help companies secure immunity from administrative enforcement and provides advice on questions involving regulatory interpretations.  Caroline handles air permitting and related compliance issues, as well as those involving solid and hazardous waste, underground storage tank, wastewater, and remediation issues.

EHS Experience

• Litigated Superfund Cost Recovery cases for plaintiffs and defendants.
• Prepared environmental audit reports.
• Prepared Solid Waste Management Contract for large municipality.
• Prepared Engineering, Procurement and Construction Contract for a chemical plant.
• Prepared Demolition Oversight Agreement for chemical company.
• Prepared Waste Management Subcontract for waste service company.
• Obtained dismissal for major oil company in toxic tort litigation.
• Represented seller in the sale of environmental permitting company.
• Secured defense verdict for a major oil company against claims that environmental liability burdened oil and gas holdings.
• Defeated claims for indemnification of environmental liability and breach of the asset purchase agreement asserted by the subsequent owner of a refinery.

Other Experience

Caroline has prior experience handling corporate transactions in various industry sectors. With appreciation of the commercial drivers and risk tolerance, she has prepared deal documents for stock, securities, and asset purchases, performed tax planning and corporate restructuring for S-Corporations, and prepared documents and regulatory filings for private securities offerings. Her experience includes preparing various commercial contracts, including master service agreements, engineering, procurement & construction contracts, and fabrication & manufacturing agreements.  To address shareholder rights, governance issues and/or profit allocations, she has prepared buy-sell agreements, company agreements, and revenue sharing agreements.  In addition, she has combined her intellectual property (IP) and transactional experience to perform IP transfers and IP due diligence and to prepare technology licenses, technology development agreements, and non-disclosure agreements.

Honors & Awards

• Best Lawyers – Corporate Law, BL Rankings, 2025
• Best Lawyers Ones to Watch – Corporate Law, BL Rankings, 2021-2022
• Texas Super Lawyers Rising Star – Intellectual Property, Thomson Reuters, 2017
• Outstanding Legal Article of the Year – Houston Bar Foundation, 2012

Houston Bar Association

• Mergers & Acquisition Section, Member
• Editorial Board, The Houston Lawyer, 2010-2012

Publications & Presentations

• Top-Level Domain Names: A New Frontier, Litigation Alert, 2014
• Tort Recovery for Medicare Beneficiaries: Procedures, Pitfalls and Potential Values, The Houston Lawyer, 2011
• Nash Baker, The Houston Lawyer, 2011
• The Senior Lawyers Committee, The Houston Lawyer, 2011
• Snyder v. Phelps: The United States Supreme Court Rules that the First Amendment Protects Public Speech that Exploits Family’s Grief, The Houston Lawyer, 2011
• Clark Thompson: Breaking the Cycle of Poverty, The Houston Lawyer, 2011
• The Trial, The Houston Lawyer, 2011