I'm reposting a tribute to Mr. O'Quinn that I found in his guestbook. The tribute was written by Mr. Douglas A Burks, who was fortunate to know him. I reprint it here with his permission.
O'QUINN
The world has lost a treasure,
Lady Justice surely cries today;
Super Man with a super heart,
Houston's Big John has gone away....
As some people make a difference,
Others simply follow the crowd;
This one help set the standards,
He made all of Houston so proud....
His place in history is secure no doubt,
Turbulent times he handled quite well;
Being the Best can never be easy,
Being the Best can't always be swell....
John loved the law and it loved him,
Even when his heart was hard to see;
Juries were his best-est friends,
The moon was his with just a plea....
Yes, this one made a difference,
A beacon of light in a world sometimes dim;
I hope Houston takes time to remember,
Our larger-than-life John O'Quinn....
Yes, I was one of the lucky ones that worked with John and Johnny in the early 90's. I took several trips in the firm's flying suburban myself. Some people may try and place blame on driving a vehicle fast, etc., but if you were to ask John, he would tell you that Justice Shouldn't Wait for Any Man. Both John and Johnny were in crunch-time hurrying to a mediation and for those in the legal world, we all know that crunch-time is like defcon 4, the Emergency Room on a busy Saturday night, and overtime during the Superbowl all rolled into one. Sometimes, things do happen.
John was definitely one-of-a-kind. I remember sitting between him and Racehorse Haynes at one of O'Quinn's birthday parties. We used to have those upstairs at the Acapulco Bar. Those were always so much fun because we got to see John laugh, smile and act like a kid.
I remember the time that O'Quinn made us line up to get our Christmas bonus checks outside of his office. When he called my name, I went into his office and he thanked me for the previous year of service, etc. and then he handed me an envelope with my bonus. I remember telling him that I would trade him the contents of the envelope for his picture as SuperMan. After winning the money for the bull SuperMan, someone painted a picture of John as SuperMan. John usually kept the painting out-of-sight on the back of a pillar in his office. John said that I should keep my bonus, but he would see to it that I got the painting if anything should ever happen to him. That was the one topic that we always kidded about. I have a large collection of SuperMan items. I saw him at Robertson stadium years after I left his office and after we talked for thirty minutes or so, he remembered his promise to give me the SuperMan picture. He just said, that painting has your name on it.
I remember the time that we had a limitation of liability hearing in New Orleans on a major admiralty case. We worked until late at night and then John made the final call to the opposing attorney representing the shipping company. John told him that it was going to cost him 22 million to settle the case. The opposing attorney tried to get John down to 19 million or so. Without getting flustered or flinching John calmly told the guy that he was calling to settle the case -- not to negotiate the case; and then politely told the opposing attorney that he would see him in court the next day. Less than 24 hours later, they settled with John for over 32 million. Basically, the attorney's attempt to shave a few dollars off the negotiated settlement wound up costing his company a smooth 10 million dollars.
I also remember the time that I finally got my one-on-one meeting with John. I had made it through 68 hours of law school at STCL and John and I went over next door to the firm at Birraporetti's to discuss everything. John was wearing a black leather coat with the American flag on the back. He listened to my story and then agreed to help get me back into law school to finish at the University of Houston. As my luck would have it, less than a week later, he was named a Regent for the University of Houston. I remember him coming to my office and, instead of looking happy that he was now a Regent, he looked and acted sad that he could not help me get into their law school. He said that too many eyes would be on him and I totally understood. I was touched by his generosity and kindness.
There are so many ways to describe him, but John was truly unique. I'm sad that he is gone and my prayers are with Dean Treece, Carl, and all those that loved and cared for he and Johnny -- but I know that they are both finally laughing, smiling and acting like kids for eternity.
Douglas A. Burks
11/4/2009
