The amendment proposed by Thompson Coe to the 1995 Texas Tort Reform Bill, assisting the insurance industry in class action claims over health insurance rates, has been challenged by plaintiff lawyers in several lawsuits brought in plaintiff-friendly venues. Not one challenge has been successful.

We have handled regulatory approval of insurance company acquisitions valued from $10 million to $750 million, including one-time transactions for a single insurer as and ongoing acquisition programs for insurers.

One of our team members was lead counsel in the Exxon Corp. et. al. v. Insurance Company of North America, et. al. environmental coverage litigation in California Superior Court, involving thousands of sites in the U.S. and Canada.

We have represented a leading manufacturer of building materials in insurance litigation involving thousands of construction claims throughout all 50 states.

We represent a major insurer in litigation over more than $30 million in damage claims caused by Hurricane Katrina.

In California litigation involving a $15 million claim over a workplace violence incident, we worked with focus groups to develop a trial strategy that gave both the defendant and its insurance carrier the confidence to hold the line at a $4 million settlement – which we secured after three weeks of trial.

We obtained summary judgment in a gender discrimination claim involving allegations of failure to pay commissions, then handled the appeal to the Fifth Circuit Court (which affirmed the judgment).

The Texas Supreme Court reversed the trial court in our appeal of a product liability lawsuit, finding that the jury charge to define a manufacturing defect was erroneous – an issue that we identified at trial, and that ultimately changed the future jury instructions made in such cases.

We have successfully defended many store owners, taverns and restaurants in cases where plaintiffs assert personal injury claims under the Texas Dram Shop Statute.

One of our lawyers was co-counsel in Ayala v. Ford Motor, the first power window death case to go to a jury. The result was a defense victory over plaintiffs who sought damages of more than $30 million in the plaintiff-friendly venue of Marshall, Texas, a result called one of the top defense wins of 2005 by the National Law Journal and the Defense Research Institute.

Our client, a civil engineering firm, was sued over alleged retaining wall defects throughout a local subdivision. We showed that the engineer was not responsible for the problems and that liability rested with other parties, secured summary judgment, and maintained our client’s business relationship with the developer.

Our insurance agent client was sued for $4 million in damages for policy non-disclosure and misrepresentation. Because of our effective defense, the state court jury that heard the case made no damage award.

When our law firm client sued a public company over an unpaid fee claim, the company countersued for fee misrepresentation. When the jury found for the client on the fee claim and on the malpractice claim, but the judge took the verdict away, we appealed the case – and secured the fee award for our client.

Property owners alleged that our title company client had missed liens on a number of properties that were foreclosed. Within a very tight timeframe we negotiated with the owners and achieved the right settlement for our client.