DP&S partner, Kirk Pittard, recently wrote a law review article that has been published in the Summer 2019 edition of the Texas Tech Law Review concerning the recovery of medical expenses under Texas Civil Practice & Remedies Code § 41.0105 subsequent to the 2003 Tort Reform legislation. See Recovery of Medical Expenses Under Texas Civil Practice & Remedies Code § 41.0105 – The Paid or Incurred Statute, 51 Tex. Tech L. Rev. 731 (Summer 2019).
DP&S is proud to announce that, on September 30, 2019, Lana Beverly joined its Dallas office. Lana brings significant appellate and litigation experience, coming from a litigation boutique that specialized in catastrophic personal injury and wrongful death matters in addition to complex commercial litigation cases. Lana received her B.A., with distinction, from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2006, and earned her J.D. from the University of North Carolina School of Law in 2010. Immediately after law school, Lana was selected to be a judicial clerk for the Honorable Tom Price of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. Lana has been recognized by Thomson Reuters in Texas Monthly as a “Texas Rising Star” in 2018 to 2019.
For the second day in a row, DP&S was proud to represent clients before the Texas Supreme Court. Dana Levy presented argument in In re Comaneche Turner, a case dealing with whether the deposition of a non-party doctor in a medical malpractice case still requires an expert report as a mandatory prerequisite, as if the non-party was, in fact, a party to the case. You can see Dana’s briefing here, and you can listen to her argument here.
Kirk Pittard presented argument this morning in LaDonna Degan, et al. v. Dallas Police and Fire Pension System Board of Trustees, a case certified to the Texas Supreme Court from the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals to answer whether certain changes made to the pensioners’ ability to withdraw money from their own accounts violate the Texas Constitution. You can read the briefing here, and you can watch Kirk’s argument here.
Congratulations to Dallas partners Kirk Pittard, Leighton Durham, Thad Spalding, and Rick Thompson for being named “Super Lawyers” once again in the Appellate category by Super Lawyers Magazine, a Thomson Reuters publication, for 2019. Kirk was also named to the “Top 100” list for Dallas/Fort Worth.
Congratulations to DP&S partners Kirk Pittard and Rick Thompson who were recently named “Best Lawyers in America” in Appellate Practice by Best Lawyers magazine. You can see Kirk and Rick’s listing here.
Congratulations to DP&S attorney, Dana Levy, who successfully defended a jury verdict in Houston’s First Court of Appeals! In addition to rejecting the defendant’s many challenges to the jury’s causation and damage findings, Dana also convinced the court of appeals to reject an evidentiary argument regarding the improper admission of liability insurance. You can see Dana’s briefing here and read the opinion here.
Congratulations to Rick Thompson who won an important insurance appraisal case in the Texas Supreme Court. The case, Barbara Techs. Corp. v. State Farm Lloyds, No. 17-0640, 2019 WL 2710089 (Tex. June 28, 2019), involved hail damage to a business and the appraisal provision in the business’s insurance policy, which is designed to provide the insurer and the insured a process for determining the value of damage to a property. In this case, the Texas Supreme Court rejected an argument that payment of an appraisal award on a rejected claim absolves the insurer of liability under the Texas Prompt Payment of Claims Act, but also emphasized that in order to recover such damages, there will need to be an adjudication of the insurer’s liability on the claim and a prompt payment violation. Importantly, this opinion preserves a cause action under the Act post-appraisal under certain circumstances, and disapproves of cases that have held otherwise. You can read a copy of the opinion here.
Congratulations to Kirk Pittard for his win in The Univ. of Tex. M.D. Anderson Cancer Ctr. v. McKenzie, No. 17-0730, 2019 WL 2710037 (Tex. June 28, 2019). The case involved medical malpractice under the Texas Tort Claims Act and whether a public hospital’s immunity from suit is waived if a negligent decision is coupled with use of tangible personal property which proximately causes injury. The Texas Supreme Court decided that, as long as the tangible personal property is a proximate cause of the injury, the Act does not require that the tangible personal property be used in a negligent manner in order for sovereign immunity to be waived. You can read the opinion here.
Congratulations to DP&S associate, Morgan McPheeters, who won an important venue ruling in a Texas Dram Shop Act case in the Dallas Court of Appeals on May 14th. In addition to successfully maintaining venue in Dallas County, the court of appeals also unanimously held–on an issue of first impression–that the plain language of the Dram Shop Act provides a civil cause of action against not just the bar itself, but also an individual employee who overserves an intoxicated person. You can read the opinion here.