Monthly Archives: August 2012

Touchstone partner, Mike Tanner, and associate, Matt Foust, obtained a defense verdict after a jury trial in Kaufman County in an uninsured and underinsured motorist case.  The case was a result of a multiple vehicle accident on IH-20, and the plaintiff was a passenger in one of the vehicles.  After settling her claims against the driver with insurance for less than minimum policy limits, plaintiff sued her own insurance company and the insurer of her driver for uninsured and underinsured motorist benefits.  The Plaintiff alleged that her injuries were caused by the driver with insurance, and an 18-wheeler who forcefully rear-ended the vehicle in which she was riding and then left the scene and was a “hit and run” vehicle.  Plaintiff alleged a neck injury and had $90,000 in past medical and alleged another $125,000 in future medicals.  The carriers disputed liability and the nature and extent of injuries as well as the amount of past and alleged future medical.  The jury found no negligence on the alleged underinsured motorist (the settling defendant) and found … Continue reading →

Touchstone, Bernays, Johnston, Beall, Smith & Stollenwerck, L.L.P. is pleased to announce that Wayne Gordon, Rocky Feemster, and Dawn Hansen have been invited to and have joined the prestigious Claims and Litigation Management Alliance.  The CLM is a nonpartisan alliance comprised of thousands of insurance companies, corporations, Corporate Counsel, Litigation and Risk Managers, claims professionals and attorneys.  Through education and collaboration the organization’s goals are to create a common interest in the representation by firms of companies, and to promote and further the highest standards of litigation management in pursuit of client defense.  Selected attorneys and law firms are extended membership by invitation only based on nominations  from CLM Fellows.  The profiles of these outstanding partners can be viewed at www.touchstonelaw.com.

Touchstone partner, Mike Tanner, and associates, Matt Foust and Amie Fordan, vigorously defended and successfully obtained a very favorable settlement on behalf of the client in a case involving a 13-year old girl who was seriously injured while operating an ATV on the client’s rural property in Bowie County.  The young girl ran the ATV into a ravine and plaintiff alleged the ravine was hidden by overgrown grass and vegetation in the premises liability case.  Plaintiff suffered a severe injury to a major artery in her leg which resulted in the leg having to be amputated.  Plaintiff had past medicals of $140,000.  Tanner, Foust, and Fordan prepared and filed a strong motion for summary judgment based on the status of plaintiff as a trespasser on the property.  Prior to the hearing on the summary judgment, Plaintiff, rather than risk the motion being granted, elected to settle the case for a low five figure amount.

Touchstone partners, Ron Johnson and Mark Smith, and associate, Amie Fordan, were recently successful in upholding a defense verdict on appeal in the Texas Supreme Court.  The case, tried to a jury by Johnson, Smith, and associate Christian Shippee, involved an auditing malpractice case  filed by the Commission of the Oklahoma Department of Insurance acting as the receiver of a failed insurance company against the officers of the insurance company and Touchstone’s client, an accounting and auditing firm.  Allegations included breach of fiduciary duty and professional negligence in performing multiple audits which plaintiff claimed prevented the Department of Insurance from discovering that the insurer was insolvent and allowed the insurer to continue operating when it should have been in receivership.  Damages sought by the plaintiff exceeded fifty million dollars.  After four weeks of trial and four days of jury deliberations, the jury returned a verdict in favor of the auditing firm which resulted in the court entering a take-nothing judgment in favor of the firm.  The Court of Appeals affirmed that judgment and just recently, … Continue reading →

Touchstone partner, Wayne Gordon, and associates, Amie Fordan and Andrew Johnson, recently obtained a summary judgment on behalf of their client in a Travis County District Court.  The case involved a suit by a jewelry company against the installer of a security system for the store and the alarm monitoring company as a result of a multi-million dollar jewelry heist.  The installer filed a third-party action for contribution against the client, a previous owner of the store when the alarm system was installed, alleging that the previous owner was involved in decisions regarding the design and installation of the system which contributed to the loss.  The sale of the store to the plaintiff contained “as is” language in the sales contract.  The primary basis for the summary judgment was that because of the contract language, the previous owner owed no duty to the plaintiff and therefore cannot be liable on any contribution claim by the installer.  Andrew Johnson successfully argued the Motion before the Court.  Congratulations to all for a great result!