NEWS
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 defendant’s cow, rolled 8 times and eventually exploded. If not for the heroic efforts of his son pulling him from the burning truck, Mr. Tunnell would have died.
This is the “cow in the road medical malpractice case”—a case in which the owner of the cow, who made no real effort to fence his cattle, happened to be a former doctor who claimed that he should be protected by Texas’ medical malpractice statute. After the defendant’s effort to dismiss the case was rejected by the trial court and the court of appeals, and the defendant and his lawyers’ sanctioned, the case finally proceeded to trial and verdict in Judge Tobolowsky’s court. You can see more about the case here. Congratulations to all of those involved!
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 the court of appeals that the abstract was sufficient to give notice of the judgment to the public. You can read the opinion here.
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 trial court dismissed the parents’ claims for failing to disclose them in bankruptcy, and then sanctioned the young-adult children for even filing their claims, Thad and Christy were able to convince the Fort Worth Court of Appeals to reverse the judgment, allow the parents’ claims to proceed to trial, and set aside the sanctions award against the kids. You can read the opinion here.
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 to unfairly compete in the North Texas market using a nearly identical name. After Marty and Bryan convinced a Dallas jury that the licensor’s and Texas licensee’s conduct constituted trademark infringement, trademark dilution, and unfair competition, Premier Pools was awarded lost profits, disgorged profits, and permanent injunctive relief. The licensor and Texas licensee appealed and, on August 12, 2016, the Dallas Court of Appeals affirmed all of the jury’s findings and the bulk of the trial court’s judgment. You can read the Dallas court’s opinion here.
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 real property on which the store as built. Peter successfully convinced the Court of Appeals to uphold nearly $600,000 in damages, including $100,000 in exemplary damages. You can read the opinion here.