Houston attorney Steve Mostyn will soon find himself in front of a federal judge explaining why he shouldn’t be sanctioned for repeatedly bringing “factually unsupported” hail lawsuits against insurers.
Almost two years ago I wrote an article for Claims Journal entitled “The Emerging Hail Risk: What the Hail is Going on?” The response was overwhelming.
HOUSTON - State Farm Lloyds recently emerged triumphant in a pair of storm lawsuits against the company, capturing favorable jury verdicts in both cases.
State Farm Lloyds recently added to its string of civil victories in hailstorm litigation, obtaining a summary judgment win in a lawsuit brought by the Mostyn Law Firm – a suit a federal judge found “factually unsupported,” like “many” of the storm claims brought by the Houston firm.
When it rains, it pours. For Steve Mostyn, that's usually a good thing. The wind and rain that come with hurricanes and other storms, wreaking havoc on homes and businesses, are bad news for the owners of damaged property, but good news for Mostyn, because he is an attorney specializing in suing insurance companies (and the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association), ostensibly on behalf of property owners with unsatisfied damage claims.
AUSTIN - In the escalating arms race between trial lawyers and tort reformers, plaintiff’s attorneys have developed a new tactic – abusing discovery as a weapon to force settlements, says one expert.
Edinburg attorney R. Kent Livesay wants a lawsuit brought by Allstate Texas Lloyds, which accuses him of fraudulently representing several storm victims and demanding payment on their behalf, moved to Hidalgo County.
Shingles are something you never want to have, unless they're on the top of your house or on the outside of your law office.
Joe Cantu is fortunate not to have shingles, at least not on his roof, but he does have cement tiles up there, and some of them apparently got damaged when the March 29, 2012 hailstorm hit his Hidalgo County home.
A federal jury recently found in favor of State Farm Lloyds in a suit brought by a Hidalgo County resident claiming the company failed to fully compensate him by paying to replace his cement tile roof following the March 29, 2012, hailstorm that swept through the area.
Houston attorney Steve Mostyn must have been feeling cocky when he attended a hearing held by the Texas House Committee on Judiciary and Civil Jurisprudence back in 2010. The hearing, attended by tort reformers and trial attorneys, was called to address the problem of barratry in our state.
Dallas commercial insurance attorney Steven Badger charges that some trial lawyers try to intimidate insurers into settling unjust claims, using a “scare tactic” that “can amount to insurance fraud.” Says Badger, “Lawyers and their teams of experts will significantly increase the alleged cost to damaged items and often add entirely new damage claim components that were never part of the original claim submitted to the insurer.”
Nearly two years after their Hidalgo County home was damaged by a hailstorm, Armando and Aurora Martinez turned to the Mostyn Law Firm in Houston and sued their insurance provider, State Farm Lloyds, alleging breach of contract. State Farm fought back, filing a motion for summary judgment in June, stating that at no time after the company closed the claim did the couple disagree about the amount paid to them, federal court records show.
Overwhelmed by thousands of lingering hailstorm lawsuits, Hidalgo County recently earned the title of “Judicial Hellhole,” bestowed by the American Tort Reform Association.
A tort reform group has christened the nation’s leading venue for patent litigation, the Eastern District of Texas, and Hidalgo County, home to more than 10,000 hailstorm lawsuits, as “judicial hellholes.” The American Tort Reform Association released its “Judicial Hellholes” report for 2015-2006 on Dec. 17, shining a spotlight on nine courts or jurisdictions with reputations for unfairness.
Several groups, including the world's largest business federation, recently filed amicus briefs in two actions pending before the Texas Supreme Court, arguing trial lawyers are abusing discovery to force insurers to settle even frivolous lawsuits. In November, State Farm Lloyds filed two petitions for writ of mandamus with the high court, seeking to overturn a district judge’s decision to impose a protocol for the production of electronically stored information (ESI for short) in a hailstorm la
Earlier this month, a Houston man sued Steve Mostyn, alleging the renowned insurance litigator inflated the price of his storm policy claim by millions and then bailed once the insurer called the bluff, possibly leaving him on the hook for the company’s million-dollar lawyer bill.
Where most people only see ice the size of golf balls falling from the sky, trial lawyers supposedly perceive golden nuggets raining down from the heavens, initiating tens of thousands of hailstorm lawsuits in just the past few years alone.
Spring of 2015 was not kind to the Lone Star State, bringing record rainfall in some cites and pummeling others with harsh hailstorms – costly bouts of weather that resulted in the most claims in Texas Windstorm Insurance Association history.
