HOUSTON – Following what might be Texas’ first e-trial, a district judge in Harris County must now decide whether to award the Daly & Black law firm the $96,000 in attorney’s fees it desires for extra work put into a hail suit that essentially flamed out years ago with an appraisal payment of around $13,000.
Judge Beau Miller, 190th District Court, held the trial, which was conducted via video conferencing, on April 22.
The proceeding was suppose to last only an hour but went on for nearly five and was filled with minor technical hiccups, such as the occasional loss of audio, buffering issues for viewers and an ever-present “bing” sound, which presumably stemmed from alert notifications popping up on the lawyers’ tablets and smart phones.
The trial itself focused solely on attorney’s fees and became slightly heated at times, compelling the judge to step in more than once to simmer things down.
More than four years ago, plaintiff Adil Ahmed filed suit against the Texas Fair Plan Association, alleging TFPA underpaid his claim for damages caused by a hail storm that swept through the Spring area back in April 2015.
Court records show TFPA found the damage to fall below Ahmed’s deductible, which was $9,500. However, not content with TFPA’s findings, Ahmed went ahead and hired Daly & Black. The firm soon made a pre-suit demand of $85,000. Of that, $30,000 was attorney’s fees.
On Feb. 15, 2016, the same day Ahmed’s lawyers made the pre-suit demand, he sued TFPA for failure to pay his claim, seeking up to $200,000 in damages for breach of contract, bad faith and untimely payment of the claim.
Court records show TFPA responded by invoking the appraisal clause in the insurance policy. At appraisal, an award of approximately $22,000 was reached, which TFPA paid in full, minus the $9,500 deductible.
Several years later, the lawsuit is still on the docket as the parties continue to battle over attorney’s fees.
Following the appraisal award, TFPA had asked Ahmed’s lawyers to drop the case, but the firm refused even though they did not contest that TFPA no longer owed any policy benefits to Ahmed, court records show.
Court records further show that over a two-year period, two different Harris County judges denied TFPA’s summary judgment motions trying to get the case thrown out.
During the trial, Richard Daly, a partner at Daly & Black, accused TFPA of choosing “a long path of litigation” and that his fees “got so high” because of “all the nonsense” TFPA was filing in order to avoid paying reasonable attorney’s fees.
“We don’t quit just because the insurance company is making us spend a lot of time and money,” Daly said. “Without fees, insurance companies would run rampant over (insureds).”
Jay Old, a Beaumont attorney representing TFPA, told the judge Daly & Black can lawfully only recover fees on claims they’ve won, and that the plaintiff’s claims in this suit had been abandoned.
Daly & Black is seeking fees under the Texas Prompt Payment of Claims Act.
Court records show TFPA voluntarily paid any potential prompt pay penalties under the TPPCA and also added $2,500 in attorney’s fees, an amount Daly & Black scoffed at.
No ruling was made following the trial. The judge asked the attorneys to submit an agreed Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law two weeks from now and that he’d make his ruling then.
Old is a partner at Hicks Thomas.