John D. Surma

Focusing his practice in the area of regulatory compliance involving the United States Department of Labor-OSHA, state OSHA programs, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and the United States Chemical Safety Board, John D. Surma joined Adams and Reese in 2011 as Special Counsel in the firm’s Houston office.

Practicing law since 1995, John helps clients achieve and maintain regulatory compliance, provides guidance and counsel following catastrophes, and offers representation before the regulatory agencies responsible for oversight of those concerns. These concerns consist of risk management; investigations of catastrophic injuries and deaths; plant and refinery explosions; equipment failures; construction defects, and subsequent representation of clients in litigation arising from those incidents and issues. His clients include refiners, chemical companies, manufacturing companies, construction companies, industrial service companies and nuclear energy companies.

In addition to his regulatory practice, John is also experienced in personal injury litigation, product liability litigation, construction defect litigation and contract disputes. John currently serves one of his clients as its general counsel.

John’s representative experience includes:

• Resolved an engineering malpractice/construction defect case with a $4.95 million settlement on behalf of his client, a chemical manufacturer. The contract with the engineering firm was for less than $125,000 and the cost of the original project was less than $1.2 million.
• Led a client through an OSHA inspection arising from the death of a contractor’s employee as a result of a valve failing in a petroleum refinery, the result of which was OSHA not issuing citations to the client. In conjunction with the litigation arising from the preceding incident, obtained summary judgment on behalf of the client in the case brought by the employee’s family.
• Led a client through an OSHA inspection arising from the death of an employee involved in construction of a large steel building and negotiated a favorable outcome for the client. Resolved the wrongful death case against the construction company involved in the above-referenced incident within the client’s insurance policy limits.
• Successfully negotiated a favorable resolution of WYOSHA citations arising from the death of a pipeline x-ray inspector.
• Provided guidance to a manufacturer of components used in the nuclear power industry concerning compliance with the notification requirements of 10 CFR 21 and assisted client create the documents required for compliance.
• Led a client with through an OSHA inspection arising from an employee death at chemical manufacturing facility and secured vacation of the two citations issued to that employer in conjunction with that inspection.
• Secured dismissal of a chemical manufacturer in a lawsuit filed by 150 neighbors of a recycling company charged with handling the client's wastes. Our client was the only defendant to obtain relief without making any payment to the Plaintiffs.

John is admitted to practice in both Texas and Wisconsin and also the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. In Texas, he practices in front of all Texas State Courts, the Southern District Federal Court of Texas and the Eastern District Federal Court of Texas. In Wisconsin, he can appear before the Supreme Court of Wisconsin, the Wisconsin Court of Appeals, all Wisconsin Circuit Courts and the Eastern and Western District Federal Courts.

In the legal industry, John is an active member of the Defense Research Institute and the Texas Association of Defense Counsel.

John earned his J.D. from the University of Wisconsin Law School in 1994 and received his B.S., summa cum laude, from University of Wisconsin-Platteville in 1992.

Among the people John admires are those who have built this country, worked hard, gave their all, and expected nothing in return but an opportunity to do better than their parents, to provide for their families, and to make the world a little better for having been here.

In his spare time, John can be found typically working with heavy equipment, tending to his orchard, fishing and hunting.