The Law Offices of Filteau & Sullivan, Ltd., LLP
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Attorneys

The Law Office of Filteau & Sullivan, Ltd., LLP was established by Robert Filteau and John Sullivan. You can learn more about them below. If you would like to speak to an attorney, please call (713) 236-1400 or use the contact form on this page to email us a question.


John Sullivan (left) Robert Filteau (right)

Robert “Bob” J. Filteau

Bob received his undergraduate degree from Boston University, which prepared him well to study law. Two years later he entered New England School of Law to pursue his passion.

There he served on the law review as senior editor, and saw his article, “When Stress Becomes Distress: Mental Disabilities Under Workers’ Compensation in Massachusetts,” published in the New England Law Review.

Bob was also active in the school’s mock trial competition, representing the school as a part of the regional mock trial competition held in New York. In his last year of law school, Bob was named social director, a position that allowed him to plan and arrange social activities so his fellow law students could network and shed a bit of law school-related anxiety.

Following graduation from law school he accepted a position at Royston, Rayzor, Vickery and Williams in their Houston office, where he handled admiralty and maritime litigation, cargo claims, pollution liability issues, and personal injury and death actions. Later he moved to Phillips, King, Smith and Wright to broaden his civil litigation experience, taking on products liability cases and commercial litigation.

In 1987 Bob started his own firm to offer a personal level of service with John Sullivan and to concentrate exclusively on civil litigation disputes, primarily involving products liability claims and employment issues.

Bob soon became proficient at defending “trailer decoupling cases,” and a multitude of other product liability lawsuits involving consumer and industrial products. He has defended cases involving a natural gas fire at a compression station, catastrophic injuries caused by a broken leaf spring from a tractor-trailer, and brain damage caused by a wayward trailer that detached from its towing vehicle.

An example of his innovative approach to litigation came in a products liability case in which the plaintiff alleged that a death resulted from a defective bathtub. He tried this civil case to a jury in federal court as a criminal case, achieving a fantastic result for his client.

Sometimes, clients want their lawyer to “go the extra mile” for them. When one of his oilfield clients was dissatisfied with its Louisiana law firm, Bob agreed to help. He took the Louisiana bar exam and was admitted to practice in Louisiana in 1991. He was also admitted to practice in Massachusetts.

Over time, Bob’s caseload of employment-related cases expanded. He has tried cases involving age discrimination, disability discrimination, retaliation, wrongful termination and a host of other employment issues. Recently he successfully prosecuted claims against oilfield service companies who failed to pay their employees overtime pay. He regularly consults on wage and hour and overtime claims, non-competition agreements, whistleblower claims, sexual harassment, race discrimination and human resource matters.

Bob is married to his beautiful wife, Rose, a special education teacher, and has a son, David, who is a student at Penn State University majoring in criminal justice. When he is not in his office or the courtroom, you might find Bob cooking up a fabulous meal or brewing a new batch of beer.

John A. Sullivan

As the second oldest of eleven children, John learned at an early age that employment and a paycheck were not luxuries but necessities for success in life.

Coming from a union family background, John was a member of the Retail Clerks Union in high school and a Teamster Union member during college. Upon graduation from St. Michael’s College in Vermont with a degree in Political Science, John applied for and was accepted into the study of law at Boston College Law School.

His study was interrupted by the national draft lottery which resulted in two tours of duty with the United States Navy in-country Vietnam as an advisor to the Vietnamese Navy.

Upon completion of his military obligation, John returned and moved to Texas where he completed his legal education at St. Mary’s University School of Law in San Antonio, Texas.

In 1981, John began the practice of law with the maritime law firm Royston, Razor, Vickery & Williams and later moved to the large law firm Baker Botts, where he worked in the ongoing asbestos toxic tort litigation.

In 1987, John helped form the current law firm and shifted his focus to representing individuals rather than corporations in personal injury and employment matters.

As a part of his practice John has appeared as counsel in Texas state and federal district courts, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and the Texas Supreme Court.