Professional Liability

Our attorneys have handled accounting malpractice claims for firms of all sizes. Our work includes defense of claims arising out of audits, preparation of financial statements, tax return preparation and all other areas of accounting practice. We also defend accounting and benefits professionals against claims involving employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs), and employee benefit plans covered by the Employee Retirement and Income Security Act (ERISA).

Thompson Coe defends architects, engineers, contractors, surveyors, builders, consultants and other design professionals against a wide range of construction-related tort claims alleging financial or physical loss due to professional malpractice and breach of contract. Our lawyers understand the construction business and the unique relationships among the various professionals and contractors on a jobsite. Our work with numerous liability insurance companies, skill at contract negotiation and interpretation, and knowledge of construction industry practices form the core of our ability to provide effective counsel for architects, engineers, and designers in professional liability claims.

Our lawyers are skilled at defending broker-dealers, registered representatives, financial advisors, and corporate officers and directors against lawsuits filed under the complex and changing maze of federal and state securities laws and regulations. We offer effective help to broker-dealers facing investor lawsuits alleging breach of fiduciary duty, improper investment advice, churning and other claims (including those made by former employees).

Our litigators are experienced in broker-dealer litigation including professional liability matters, such as broker raiding cases involving non-competition and non-solicitation contracts and in regulatory and disciplinary matters before state and federal regulators as well as the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) and the securities exchanges.

Broker-dealers also ask our help when facing allegations of underwriting misrepresentation, including those involving derivatives and other structured financial products caught up in the subprime lending crisis.

Over 20 percent of all homes in the United States are located within property owners’ associations, including homeowners’ associations, condominium communities, and cooperatives. Nationwide, approximately 8,000 new community associations are formed each year and almost $85 billion is paid out in assessments annually. The growth in the number of community associations means an increase in homeowner’s association litigation. As litigation involving property owners’ associations proliferates, Thompson Coe is equipped to meet the evolving challenges of its clients.

Property owners’ association cases often involve complex issues and skilled practitioners must be versed in the law relating to real estate and property, zoning, regulations at the local, state, and federal levels, constitutional questions, torts, and contract interpretation of governing documents. Thompson Coe property owners’ association practice reflects significant experience and in-depth understanding of the unique issues associations and their boards face related to all types of claims and grievances. Thompson Coe is well positioned to provide cost-effective representation to address the myriad of disputes associations might encounter.

Unlike any other professional group or stratum, directors and officers are answerable to parties above, below, and outside their organizations, and potential liabilities are numerous and complex. In this volatile environment, insurers, companies, boards of directors and their members, and corporate and nonprofit executives regularly turn to Thompson Coe for director and officer (D&O) liability defense and counsel on the perils and opportunities of the future.

Comprising leading trial lawyers and commercial litigators with an exceptional breadth of knowledge, talent, and experience, our team successfully represents directors and officers in high-value disputes in both federal and state courts. It acts as trusted counsel providing timely and proactive advice on the full spectrum of risk-avoidance issues and emerging concerns relevant to directors and officers in a variety of industries.

Our D&O clients include both public and private companies, nonprofit entities, governmental divisions, investment trusts, limited and general partnerships, and homeowner’s associations. One of the areas in which our team is particularly adept is financial services, where companies and officials face civil and administrative litigation brought under federal and state banking, consumer, and securities laws and regulations.

We bring not only extensive experience litigating claims under these rules and statutes, but also a thorough understanding of the individualized concerns and nuanced needs of public and privately held financial institutions.

Thompson Coe medical defense attorneys have defended health care providers with competent, efficient representation in many specialty areas. Our defense is aggressive and informed, and we have broad experience countering emotional plaintiff arguments with the factual requirements of the law and science.

Many individual healthcare professional liability insurance policies have ‘consent to settle’ provisions, and we often counsel our client – the insured healthcare provider – on the important ramifications of giving or withholding consent to settle when faced with a settlement demand by a claimant.

Visit our Health Care practice page for more information.

Insurance agents and brokers from small independents to national carriers may face client claims resulting from the sales of life and health insurance, property and casualty insurance, or annuities and other insurance products. Many of the cases that we handle require us to resolve allegations of misrepresentation, inadequate coverage or product unsuitability involving:

• Commercial lines coverage (CGL, Business Risk, E&O)
• Personal lines coverage (Auto, Home, Health and Life)
• ERISA and Welfare Benefit Plans
• Annuities and other investment products
• Workers compensation insurance

Our lawyers defend other lawyers against legal malpractice claims and in disciplinary proceedings. We are routinely hired by legal malpractice insurers to defend their insured lawyers, as well as hired directly by other members of the bar, to defend attorneys who practice in all areas of the law, including personal injury, commercial litigation, banking and finance, debt collection, estate planning, intellectual property, bankruptcy, and real estate, to name a few.

Our legal malpractice attorneys offer effective defense in:

• Legal malpractice and breach of fiduciary duty
• Conflicts of interest
• Claims alleging illegal, unethical, or fraudulent conduct
• Liability to non-clients
• Disciplinary proceedings, investigations, and suspension and disbarment proceedings by the State Bars of Texas, California, Louisiana, and Minnesota.

Any law firm of any size can face claims by current or former clients, or internal problems that raise questions of professional and personal liability. Firms rely on our discreet and experienced guidance to defend professional reputations and financial solvency.

Plaintiff’s attorneys see the complex, high-intensity real estate market as a fertile arena for litigation involving the services of real estate agents, brokers, appraisers, title companies, and fee attorneys. Our litigation and arbitration lawyers defend real estate professionals in controversies involving allegations of misrepresentation, failure to disclose property or financing defects, and failure to uncover title problems. Most of the properties at issue are valued anywhere from hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars.

Our lawyers defend clients in proceedings before the Texas Real Estate Commission and the California Bureau of Real Estate, in the trial and appellate courts, and mediation and arbitration actions. In addition to more traditional real estate controversies, our real estate lawyers are effectively dealing with the wave of litigation that professionals face over the ongoing distress in the subprime real estate market, particularly claims involving foreclosure and inadequate risk disclosure.