Author name: Thad Spalding

Congratulations to Kirk Pittard and Thad Spalding  who have been named “best lawyers” by D Magazine in the Appellate category for 2018.

Congratulations to Peter Kelly, who won an important case in the Texas Supreme Court this week addressing an employer’s responsibility for its employees’ conduct, convincing the Texas Supreme Court to reverse the El Paso Court of Appeals, clarify the standard for holding employers liable for their employees’ acts, and remanding the case for trial on

Congratulations to KD&P associate, Jessica Foster, whose report on groundwater rules applicable to communities along the Texas-Mexico border was published today by Texas A&M School of Law!  You can see the press release regarding Jessica’s paper here, and you can read the report here.

Congratulations to KD&P Associate, Morgan McPheeters, who was named a “Rising Star” in the Appellate Practice category by Texas “Super Lawyers” for 2018. You can see the short list of Appellate “Rising Stars,” including Morgan, here.

Congratulations to Peter Kelly and Dana Levy who received a great opinion in a medical malpractice case from Houston’s First Court of Appeals in Glenn v. Leal.  The case is important because it rejects the application of a “willful and wanton” negligence standard to emergency medical care provided in an obstetrical unit where the patient is not first

KD&P is very proud of its associate, Morgan McPheeters, who presented argument today in the Texas Supreme Court on behalf of the Respondent in State of Texas v. T.S.N., an important case dealing with the expunction rights of the wrongfully accused.  You can see Morgan’s briefing here and you can watch Morgan in action here.

Congratulations to KD&P Partner, Kirk Pittard, who won a significant victory in the Texas Supreme Court.  In a funeral home negligence case, the supreme court rejected the argument that a contract is required to impose a duty on a funeral home to not mishandle the body of a deceased person.  Instead, the court concluded that

KD&P is pleased to announce that Justin Kaufman and Rosalind Bienvenu have joined KD&P’s Santa Fe office, effective February 12, 2018.  Justin, formerly a partner with Robins Cloud, joins KD&P as partner and will manage KD&P’s New Mexico practice from the Santa Fe office.  Rosalind, formerly an associate with Robins Cloud, joins KD&P as an

Congratulations to KD&P Partner, Kirk Pittard, who was part of a trial team including Reid Martin, Jack Walker and Marisa Schouten of Martin Walker, P.C., that obtained a $43 million verdict against East Texas Medical Center in a medical malpractice case in Smith County.  You can see the jury verdict here.

2018 begins the same way 2017 ended for KD&P partner, Kirk Pittard–by arguing before the Texas Supreme Court, this time in an important family law case, In the Interest of H.S., in which the Court must decide the statutory standing requirements necessary for a non-parent to petition the court to alter parents’ decision-making authority over their children. 

Congratulations to KD&P associate, Michael Kawalek, who was named a “Best Lawyer under 40” by D Magazine in the January 2018 issue!  Notably, of those named “Best Lawyers,” Michael was one of only three attorneys named in the “Appellate” category.

Congratulations to KD&P associate, Morgan McPheeters, who was nominated and selected to serve as a member of the Advocates Committee Board of Directors for the Texas Trial Lawyers Association (TTLA). TTLA is a professional association that works to protect the 7th Amendment right to trial by jury and empower trial attorneys to best represent their

Last week, KD&P was proud to present argument in two different cases before the Texas Supreme Court.  Peter Kelly led off, presenting argument on behalf of the Petitioner in Steven Painter, et al. v. Amerimex Drilling I Ltd., and Kirk Pittard followed, presenting argument on behalf of the Respondent in SCI Texas Funeral Services Inc. v. Cody Nelson. 

It is our pleasure to announce that KD&P’s partners, Peter Kelly, Kirk Pittard, Leighton Durham, and Thad Spalding, have all been named “Super Lawyers” in the Appellate category by Super Lawyers Magazine, a Thomson Reuters publication, for 2017.

Congratulations to KD&P partner, Kirk Pittard, who was sworn in to the Colorado Bar Association on September 8, 2017.

KD&P is pleased to welcome Jessica Foster as its newest associate.  Jessica is a 2016 graduate of Texas A&M School of Law in Fort Worth, where she received a full Presidential Scholarship and served as an Articles Editor for the Texas A&M Law Review and as a teacher’s assistant for Legal Research and Writing courses.  Jessica also

Congratulations to Kirk Pittard for being named, for the 7th year in a row, a “best lawyer” in the Appellate category by D Magazine!

Congratulations to Mike Doyle of Doyle LLP and Peter Kelly of Kelly, Durham & Pittard, LLP whose hard work led to a $6.4 million verdict in favor of Dr. Gomez. Mike Doyle was lead trial counsel, and tried a fantastic case against one of the top lawyers in Texas. Peter helped him get there by

Congratulations to Steve Laird, Stephen Daniel, Steve Samples and Kirk Pittard who just secured a $6,095,000 verdict in Judge Tapscott’s Court in Dallas today in an 18 wheeler trucking accident case.  Pat Montes assisted with witness preparation.  The damages awarded were just for the plaintiffs’ non-economic damages.  The defendants’ pre-trial offer to settle was $35,000.

Congratulations to KD&P associate Morgan McPheeters for successfully defending an expunction order obtained by Jeremy Rosenthal, of Rosenthal & Wadas, on behalf of his client in Collin County.  The order at issue expunged records relating to an arrest for felony aggravated assault for which the client was subsequently acquitted.  The State, claiming that the entire expunction

KD&P is pleased to announce that on December 28, 2016, its Dallas office has a new home–the old Cedar Crest house at 2223 W. Jefferson Blvd., in Oak Cliff.  John Council wrote a nice article about our move and the new house in the January 2017 edition of Texas Lawyer.  You can read the article here.

Congratulations to David and Cris Feldman who, along with Kirk Pittard, successfully convinced the trial court to partially lift a temporary restraining order that had been in place prohibiting the release of any benefits to retired police officers and firefighters from the Deferred Retirement Option Plan.  Today’s ruling paves the way for the Dallas Police and Fire

Baylor law student Cassie Hansen is the winner of Baylor Law School’s first Ultimate Legal Writing Competition!  Kelly, Durham & Pittard, LLP is proud to be a sponsor of this writing program, and congratulates Cassie for winning the contest.  KD&P also congratulates the second and third place finishers, Jamie Oberg, a third-year law student, and Ashlie

Congratulations to Dean Boyd and Jamie Kroon of the Attorney Dean Boyd firm, and Leighton Durham of Kelly, Durham & Pittard on an $8.9M verdict in Dallas County following the bench trial of a case in which the plaintiff, Bobby Tunnell, suffered massive injuries when the car in which he was a passenger hit the

When Mayor Mike Rawlings filed suit today, seeking to halt retirees’ withdrawal of funds from the Dallas Police & Fire Pension Fund, NBC Ch. 5 and CBS Ch. 11 discussed the issue with Kirk.  You can see the NBC story here, and the CBS story here.

Congratulations to Kirk Pittard who was sworn in today to the New Mexico Bar Association!  He joins Leighton Durham and Morgan McPheeters as members of the New Mexico bar.

KD&P is pleased to welcome Michael Kawalek as its newest associate.  Formerly an associate with Bell, Nunnely, & Martin LLP, and Bickel & Brewer before that, Michael is a 2010 graduate of the University of Texas School of Law and brings some significant complex litigation experience to the firm.

Congratulations to David Lopez and Leslie Hyman, of Pulman, Cappucio, Pullen, Benson & Jones, LLP, who, along with the help of Peter Kelly, successfully defended their judgment before Houston’s First Court of Appeals.  The appeal involved the validity of an abstract of judgment filed under a Hispanic judgment debtor’s maternal surname.  David, Leslie, and Peter successfully convinced

Congratulations to KD&P partners Peter Kelly, Kirk Pittard, Leighton Durham, and Thad Spalding who were once again named “Super Lawyers” in the Appellate category by Super Lawyers Magazine, a Thomson Reuters publication.  Peter Kelly was even more super, being named to the Houston region’s list of Top 100 lawyers overall for the second year in a row.

KD&P is proud to sponsor a new writing competition at Baylor Law School, “The Ultimate Writer Competition,” through its Legal Writing Center.  Top prize, in addition to cash, is a clerkship opportunity with our firm.

Congratulations to KD&P partner Thad Spalding and associate Christy Wollin for their win Friday in the Fort Worth Court of Appeals.  The case arose out of the faulty installation of the HVAC unit in the Young family’s new house which resulted in severe mold damage to the home and personal injury to the family.  After the

Congratulations to KD&P’s Thad Spalding, and trial counsel—Marty Rose and Bryan Rose of Rose Walker—for successfully defending a common law trademark infringement, trademark dilution, and unfair competition jury verdict on behalf of their client, Premier Pools—a North Texas, family-owned pool builder who had been in business for almost 30 years before an out-of-state licensor started

Congratulations to Peter Kelly who, on July 26, 2016, successfully upheld a commercial verdict in the Fourteenth Court of Appeals.  The case–a commercial fraud-by-nondisclosure case involving the development and operation a fried chicken franchise–involved a duty to disclose on the part of the defendants that arose when the defendants only partially disclosed the ownership of the

Congratulations to Dava Greenberg-Spindler and Kirk Pittard who won a family law case yesterday in the Fort Worth Court of Appeals.  Dava and Kirk represented the parents of a child.  The child’s grandparents filed a suit affecting the parent-child relationship (SAPCR) seeking managing conservatorship over the child.  Dava and Kirk successfully convinced the court of appeals

Congratulations to KD&P associate, Morgan McPheeters, who successfully convinced Houston’s First District Court of Appeals to affirm the trial court’s ruling, allowing her client’s personal injury claims against the City of Houston to proceed.  After a police dog attacked and injured his minor son, Jesus Roman filed suit against the City of Houston, alleging that

KD&P’s loss would be the Fourteenth Court of Appeals’ gain.  KD&P’s Houston partner, Peter M. Kelly, was recently asked to be the Democratic candidate for one of the positions on Houston’s Fourteenth Court of Appeals, and will be on the ballot in this November’s election.  John Council wrote an article in this month’s Texas Lawyer

Congratulations to KD&P associate Morgan McPheeters who won another case in the Dallas Court of Appeals.  This time, Morgan successfully defended a default divorce decree obtained by a spouse against her incarcerated husband. In the process, the court of appeals rejected the husband’s attempt to challenge the judgment on due process grounds where he failed to file

Congratulations to Kirk Pittard and Thad Spalding, who were named “Best Lawyers” in the Appellate category in the May 2016 issue of D Magazine. This is Kirk’s sixth time to be named to the list, and Thad’s fifth.  You can see the entire list of Dallas’s “best lawyers” in the Appellate category here.

Congratulations to KD&P partner, Leighton Durham, and associate, Morgan McPheeters, and trial counsel, Laura Tamez of the Herrera Law Firm, who successfully defended a trial court’s refusal to dismiss a medical malpractice case based on the defendants’ challenge to the Chapter 74 expert reports.  You can read the opinion here.

Congratulations to Thad Spalding who was able to convince the Fifth Circuit to reverse a judgment against his client, even after the trial court determined that his client had been sold a helicopter that was not airworthy.  Based on that win, Texas Lawyer named Thad its “Appellate Lawyer of the Week.”  You can read the opinion

Congratulations to Thad Spalding and Morgan McPheeters who successfully defended a summary judgment in a legal malpractice case in the Dallas Court of Appeals. Dan Tostrud and Matthew Last, with Cobb Martinez Woodward, successfully moved for summary judgment in the trial court in favor of an attorney in a legal malpractice case arising out of

Congratulations to Christy Wollin, an Associate in KD&P’s Dallas office, who was named a “Rising Star” in the Appellate Practice category for the third year in a row.  You can see the entire list of Appellate “Rising Stars,” including Christy, here.  Way to go, Christy!

Yesterday, Leighton Durham joined Morgan McPheeters as a member of the New Mexico Bar Association.

Congratulations to Jason Gibson and Casey Jordan of The Gibson Law Firm who, along with the help of Peter Kelly, successfully prosecuted a wrongful death case against Manhattan-Vaughn on behalf of Angel Garcia’s family.  Angel Garcia was killed on December 4, 2013, during the construction of Kyle Field.  His family filed suit, and on February 10, 2016, the jury

Congratulations to Kirk Pittard and Leighton Durham who successfully convinced the Dallas Court of Appeals to not only dismiss an appeal, but to sanction both the defense attorney and his doctor client for pursuing a frivolous appeal.  The “cow in the road” appeal, which stems from serious injuries our client suffered when he ran into

KD&P is pleased to welcome its newest associate, Dava Greenberg-Spindler, to the Dallas office.  Dava is a native San Antonian, and a 2015 graduate, magna cum laude, of Texas Tech University School of Law.  Welcome to the firm Dava.

Congratulations to Rose Walker attorneys, Marty Rose and Chris McDowell, and their client, ThermoTek, who–along with the support of Thad Spalding–obtained a $7.5M jury verdict on November 20, 2015 following a three-week trial in a Federal District Court in Dallas.  ThermoTek, who was originally sued by the Defendants, defeated the Defendants’ claims and successfully pursued

Congratulations to Peter Kelly who, on November 19, 2015, successfully convinced the Corpus Christi Court of Appeals to affirm a trial court’s order refusing to dismiss his client’s case pursuant to Chapter 74 of the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code–the Texas Medical Liability Act.  The client, a housekeeper, sued her employer, Corpus Christi Medical Center, for

KD&P is pleased to announce the opening, effective November 1, 2015, of its new office in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Congratulations to Kirk Pittard who successfully defended a trial court’s order requiring that State Farm of Lloyds produce electronically-stored information in the native format in which such information is usually kept. State Farm sought mandamus relief, but the Corpus Christi Court of Appeals concluded that mandamus relief was not warranted and required that State Farm produce

KD&P and Houston partner, Peter Kelly, are honored to have worked with lead counsel Jim Lewis on an amicus brief in the Texas Supreme Court on behalf of Aid to Victims of Domestic Abuse (a United Way Agency) and the Texas Trial Lawyers Association, asking that the court reverse a lower court opinion that held that

Congratulations to KD&P partners Peter Kelly, Kirk Pittard, Leighton Durham, and Thad Spalding who were all named “Super Lawyers” in the Appellate category by Thomson Reuters and the publishers of Texas Monthly magazine.  A special congratulations to Peter Kelly for also being named among the Houston region’s Top 100 lawyers overall.

Congratulations to Peter Kelly and Will Adams for their successful defense of a judgment in excess of $800,000 in a nonsubscriber case against a negligent employer. Peter and Will defeated nearly all of the employer’s factual and legal sufficiency arguments regarding the liability and damage findings, as well as arguments related to the exclusion of certain

Congratulations to Morgan McPheeters who won her first appeal in the Fort Worth Court of Appeals!  Morgan successfully upheld a default judgment in favor of a personal injury plaintiff, where the defendant attempted to challenge the judgment through a bill of review more than four years after the judgment was entered, claiming extrinsic fraud in the

Congratulations to Peter Kelly who convinced the Fourteenth Court of Appeals in Houston to affirm a $1.1 million judgment obtained by Jason Gibson and Andrew Smith against Kroger following an incident in which a meatcutter lost four fingers on his dominant hand. Among other issues on appeal, Kroger argued that its duties should be limited

Congratulations to Partner, Peter Kelly who has been appointed to a second three-year term on the Texas Supreme Court Advisory Committee.  Currently comprised of 46 judges, former judges, and practitioners, the Committee assists the Supreme Court in the continuing study, review, and development of rules and procedures for the courts of Texas, taking into consideration the

Congratulations to Leigh Bradford who convinced the Dallas Court of Appeals to reverse the trial court’s dismissal of a medical malpractice case based on the sufficiency of the Chapter 74 expert report.  The Dallas Court of Appeals determined that the trial court abused its discretion in dismissing the claims against a doctor, finding that the Chapter

In response to a very defense-oriented article which argued that, despite the plain language of the statute, a plaintiff could obtain punitive damages for fraud only if some level of “super-fraud” had been proved, Peter Kelly wrote a rebuttal published by the Texas Lawyer on June 1, 2015 that clarified the statutory requirements for obtaining

Congratulations to Kevin Camp who, along with the help of Kirk Pittard, obtained a $5.24 million verdict in favor of their client, John Blommer, against BNSF Railway back in October of last year.  On May 25, 2015, the verdict was highlighted by the Texas Lawyer as the second-highest toxic tort verdict in 2014.

On May 25, 2015, John Council and the Texas Lawyer featured Leighton Durham and the cow in the road case again.  In this installment, the Texas Lawyer zeros in on a motion to dismiss Leighton filed with the Dallas Court of Appeals, urging the court to not only dismiss the defendants’ appeal but also award

Another month, another big win for Peter Kelly, this time in In re Memorial Herman Hosp. Sys., No. 14-0171, — S.W.3d —, 2015 WL 2438752 (Tex. May 22, 2015).  In this case, Dr. Gomez brought suit against  Memorial Hermann, his former employer, seeking damages caused by the hospital’s defamatory “whisper campaign” against him.  The hospital claimed that

On April 24, 2015, the Texas Supreme Court decided Brown & Gay Eng’g, Inc. v. Olivares, No. 13-0605, — S.W.3d —, 2015 WL 1897646 (Tex. April 24, 2015), a case in which a private engineering firm retained by a governmental entity to design and build a toll road asserted “derivative sovereign immunity” in an effort

KD&P is pleased to announce that Morgan McPheeters passed the Texas Bar Exam!  Morgan is now licensed to practice law in Texas and New Mexico.  Congratulations Morgan!

KD&P is pleased to announce that, for the fifth year in a row, Kirk Pittard has been recognized by D Magazine as one of the best lawyers in Dallas in the Appellate practice category.  Congratulations Kirk!

On Friday, April 10, 2015, Leighton Durham and trial counsel, Dean Boyd, successfully defeated the defendant’s now widely-publicized effort to have their client’s case dismissed pursuant to Texas’s medical malpractice statute solely on the basis that the cow’s owner, and defendant in the case, is a retired doctor.  A Texas Lawyer article discussing the case can

Peter Kelly is urging the Texas Supreme Court to reconsider its March 6, 2015 decision in The Fredericksburg Care Co., L.P. v. Juanita Perez, et al. (No. 13-0573), and the Texas Trial Lawyers Association, the Texas Association of Defense Counsel, the Texas Chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates, and even Texas Mutual Liability Trust, a medical

On March 26, 2015, KD&P partner Peter Kelly presented argument to the Texas Supreme Court on behalf of the Texas Trial Lawyers Association regarding Texas’s statutory punitive damages caps.  A summary of the case, Mirta Zorrilla v. Aypco Constr. II, LLC, et al., No. 14-0067, and Peter’s argument can be found here.  Peter’s argument begins at

On March 24, 2015, KD&P partner Kirk Pittard testified before the Texas House of Representatives’ Committee on Business and Industry against HB 1603, a “chancery court” bill which would create special courts for special commercial interests in contravention of the Texas Constitution and which would be detrimental to the citizens of Texas.  Kirk’s testimony can

KD&P is pleased to announce that, for the second year in a row, Christy Wollin has been named a “Rising Star” in the Appellate category by Super Lawyers Magazine, a publication of Thomson Reuters and the publishers of Texas Monthly.  Congratulations, again, Christy!

Kelly, Durham & Pittard, LLP is pleased to announce the addition of Morgan A. McPheeters as a new associate in the Dallas office.  Morgan is a 2014 cum laude graduate of Baylor Law School, with a concentration in business litigation, is already licensed to practice law in New Mexico and just sat for the Texas Bar

On February 25, 2015, Peter Kelly defended a discovery order requiring the disclosure of peer-review committee documents before the Texas Supreme Court.  Peter presented argument on behalf of the Respondent, Dr. Miguel Gomez, in In re Hermann Hosp. Sys., No. 14-0171. The issue concerns whether (1) the statutory medical-committee privilege protects documents potentially discoverable under

Congratulations to Rachel Montes and Todd Tracy who, along with the support of Leighton Durham, obtained an $18,745,001 verdict in the 95th Judicial District Court in Dallas County on February 13, 2015.  The jury’s verdict was based on injuries Hope Crump suffered when she was ejected from a vehicle in which she was a passenger.  Hope was

Leighton Durham was interviewed by John Council of Texas Lawyer regarding opposing counsel’s unusual motion to dismiss filed in a case in which he and Dean Boyd represent a plaintiff injured when he ran into a cow that escaped from the defendant’s property.  Because the owner of the cow is a retired doctor, opposing counsel

You can read about Peter Kelly’s win in Davis v. White on the front page of the January 12, 2015 Texas Lawyer (“Court Reinstates $2.8M Punitive Award“).    

KD&P is delighted to report a significant victory earned on December 29, 2014 in the Fort Worth Court of Appeals. In a breach of fiduciary duty case (a lawyer suing his former partner), the jury awarded $2,800,000 in exemplary damages (10 times the actual damages). The trial court applied Texas’s statutory cap and cut the

Congratulations to Leigh Prichard Bradford who, on November 21, 2014, defeated a Petition for Review filed in the Texas Supreme Court in a medical malpractice case.  The court of appeals opinion, Navarro v. Washington, No. 10-13-00248-CV, 2014 WL 1882763 (Tex. App.—Waco May 8, 2014, pet. denied) (mem. op.), upheld the qualifications and sufficiency of the

KDP is pleased to announce that Christy Wollin has been named a “Rising Star” in the Appellate category by Texas Monthly and Law & Politics Magazine.  Congratulations Christy!