Dallas Austin

On April 18, 2023, a Dallas jury awarded $44 million in damages to a Texas homeowner who was rendered a paraplegic from an electric shock when trying to cut trim trees near a high-voltage power line.  How did this happen? The Taylors own a rental house on a corner lot in Graham, Texas. The Shifletts own the house next door.  Both houses receive electrical power from lines owned and operated by Oncor Electric Delivery Company, LLC (Oncor).  A 7,200 volt uninsulated power line runs to the corner of the Taylors’ property and two 240 volt insulated service lines, one running to the Taylors’

In April 2023, a Dallas County jury awarded over $860 million to the family of a woman killed when a crane collapsed on her apartment complex. The jury’s award against real estate developer, Greystar Development & Construction, LP (Greystar), was $160 million more than the Plaintiffs requested. How did this happen? During a severe thunderstorm on June 9, 2019, a tower crane collapsed on the Elan City Lights Apartment Community in Dallas. The collapse injured several residents of the Elan and killed Kiersten Smith. Shortly after the collapse, Smith’s family sued Greystar and two other e

Who decides whether a dispute is properly brought in court or arbitration? The Texas Supreme Court recently weighed in on this issue, holding that a contract referencing a standard set of arbitration rules evidences the parties’ intent to delegate the issue of “arbitrability” to an arbitrator. In Totalenergies E&P USA, Inc. v. MP Gulf of Mexico, LLC, MP Gulf and Total owned an oil-and-gas processing system servicing a group of oil-and-gas leases in the Gulf of Mexico. The parties agreed to create a “Common System” wherein the parties executed contracts governing multiple facets o

Is a transcript of an arbitration proceeding required to argue that the award should be vacated on appeal?  Matthew Rindt, a Partner at Gerstle Snelson, successfully argued to the Fort Worth Court of Appeals that vacatitur is not appropriate without one. In Spears Construction Management, LLC v. Physical Therapy Dynamics, PLLC, Spears Construction Management, LLC (Spears) entered into a contract with Physical Therapy Dynamics (PTD) to construct a physical therapy facility in Crowley, Texas (Project). The contract contained a binding arbitration clause, requiring any disputes between Spears an

What effect does limiting the amount of required insurance in a construction contract have on an insurer writing umbrella coverage?  The Texas Supreme Court recently considered this issue, answering that the limitation was not incorporated into the umbrella policy and was of no effect. The Court was very familiar with facts of the underlying dispute, ExxonMobil v. National Union Fire Insurance Company of Pittsburgh, PA, as it was the second coverage dispute the Court had heard and decided involving the same incident.  Exxon retained Savage Refinery Services (Savage) to perform work at Exxon&