By Tiffany Hu

Law360 (August 13, 2020, 9:24 PM EDT) -- In what "will likely surprise no one" tracking the COVID-19 crisis, a Texas federal judge said Wednesday he has again pushed back a retrial against Halliburton Energy Services Inc. over a gas separator patent to possibly the end of the year.

U.S. District Judge Andrew S. Hanen on Wednesday ordered an Aug. 24 retrial between Halliburton and Legacy Separators LLC to be delayed until at least October. At issue will only be whether two of Halliburton's products infringe Legacy's patent for a downhole gas separator used in oil and gas drilling operations, a question that an earlier jury couldn't answer.

"A fact that will likely surprise no one monitoring the COVID-19 statistics, is that there will be no jury trial in the month of September," the judge wrote. "Although this exact situation was anticipated by the court's prior order, the court believes that the best course of action is for the parties to give proposed dates for a weeklong jury trial in either October, November or December."

Both sides now have two weeks from Wednesday's order to propose new dates, though Judge Hanen warned that they should "concentrate their focus on the latter two months."

The scheduling issues are the latest development in a legal fight dating back to March 2014, when Legacy accused Halliburton of making "knockoff" equipment that infringed its patent, as well as other fraud allegations involving Halliburton subsidiary Global Oilfield Services.

The dispute headed to trial in early March, and the jury was tasked with answering 24 questions on Legacy's patent and fraud claims, as well as Halliburton's counterclaims.

Before deliberations, two jurors who fell ill were excused and replaced with alternates. A six-member jury began in-person deliberations March 13 and continued as courts across the country shuttered and delayed other jury trials in response to the coronavirus outbreak.

The jury cleared Halliburton of claims that another product infringed the patent, and rejected arguments that the patent was invalid. However, jurors were hung on whether two other Halliburton products — called Q-Max XT and GSB — infringed the patent, which they also concluded was not invalid for being inoperable and not enabled.

This marks the second time that Judge Hanen has pushed back the retrial. It had originally been set for July, but was first rescheduled to Aug. 24 due to the pandemic.

Aimee Perilloux Fagan of McKool Smith PC, an attorney for Halliburton, told Law360 in an email Thursday that she was not surprised by the news, saying that Houston was a "different scenario" from the Eastern District of Texas, where the firm just finished a jury trial.

"While our client looks forward to putting a final end to these claims as soon as possible, we share the court's concern for all the necessary personnel and members of the public who will necessarily be required to participate in the upcoming trial," Fagan said.

"The judge will call the case for trial as soon as it's safe," R. Paul Yetter of Yetter Coleman LLP, an attorney for Legacy Separator, said by email Thursday. "And we're ready to go when he does."

The patent-in-suit is U.S. Patent No. 8,424,597.

Legacy is represented by R. Paul Yetter, James E. Zucker, Pamela L. Hohensee, Thomas M. Morrow, Matthew C. Zorn, Reagan W. Simpson and Robert D. Woods of Yetter Coleman LLP.

Halliburton is represented by Aimee Perilloux Fagan, Samuel F. Baxter, Phillip M. Aurentz, Robert Marc Manley, Meredith Anne Elkins, Marcus Rabinowitz and Avery Roderick Williams of McKool Smith PC and Terrie L. Sechrist of Sechrist Duckers LLP.

The case is Legacy Separators LLC v. Halliburton Energy Services Inc. et al., case number 4:14-cv-02081, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas.

--Additional reporting by Dani Kass and Dorothy Atkins. Editing by Bruce Goldman.

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