Monthly Archives: March 2022

Doyle Dennis Avery LLP has secured a major victory in its ongoing case against Memorial Hermann Health System arising from defamation, business disparagement, and tortious interference that harmed a Houston, Texas cardiothoracic surgeon.  On August 15, 2019, the Court of Appeals for the First District of Texas issued an opinion rejecting Memorial Hermann’s effort to overturn the jury’s $6.3 million verdict and the 333^rd District Court of Harris County’s Final Judgment\

Doyle Dennis Avery LLP has filed suit against American Zurich Insurance Company and Sedgwick Claims Management Services, Inc. for bad faith insurance claim handling.  The suit, which is pending in the United States District Court of Arizona, Phoenix Division, alleges that American Zurich violated the duty of good faith and fair dealing and that Sedgwick Claims and its adjusters aided and abetted American Zurich’s bad faith conduct.

In July 2020, Doyle Dennis Avery LLP filed suit against Praetorian Insurance Company and Sedgwick Claims Management Services Inc. on behalf of the wife of a deceased worker. She has been the victim of bad faith handling of her workers’ compensation claim with regard to her husband’s death.  The suit, which was filed in the United States District Court for the District of Arizona, Phoenix Division, states that Praetorian Insurance Company and Sedgwick Claims Management Services violated the duty of good faith and fair dealing, under Arizona law.

Doyle Dennis Avery LLP filed suit in August of 2020 in Harris County District Court under the Texas Labor Code against Republic Manufacturing Group INC. d/b/a Republic Bag Co. and Alpha Industries Management Inc. d/b/a Republic Bag Co. The suit alleges that Republic Bag Co. retaliated with discrimination against Doyle Dennis Avery LLP ’s client and then fired her after she filed a workers’ compensation claim.

Texas workers have certain rights after suffering an injury in the course and scope of their employment. Under Texas law, an injured worker who reports and files a workers’ compensation claim and/or seeks benefits, including medical treatment, is entitled to protection under Texas Labor Code § 451.001. This is the law that the suit alleges Republic Bag Co. violated.

According to the legal filing, Republic Bag Co. knew of our client’s compensable on the job injury. Republic Bag Co. responded to the employee’s report of injury by first harassing and then firing her, fabricating various pretextual grounds for wrongfully and maliciously firing Doyle Dennis Avery LLP ’s client as a result of her on the job injury and resulting claim for lawful benefits. Republic Bag Co. retaliated and terminated the injured worker because Doyle Dennis Avery LLP ’s client filed an on the job injury claim, sought worker’s compensation benefits, and instituted a proceeding or caused to be instituted a proceeding under the Texas Worker’s Compensation laws, including reporting that she suffered an injury to her employer under Texas Labor Code § 409.001

Texas’ workers’ compensation laws, including Texas Labor Code Section 451.001, provide a cause of action for discriminatory misconduct and retaliation against a worker injured on the job. Doyle Dennis Avery LLP ’s client was a loyal and hard-working employee of Republic Bag Co., who was injured while working on the job on or about April 15, 2020. Doyle Dennis Avery LLP ’s client was retrieving a roll of bags from a machine as she frequently did before, but the machine pulled her right hand, resulting in injuries to her left middle finger, back, neck, arm, and body generally. The employee reported this work injury to her employer and received medical treatment, as permitted by Texas workers’ compensation laws. By making that report to her supervisor and employer as required by Texas Labor Code § 409.001, the injured worker instituted a proceeding under the Texas Workers’ Compensation laws, as protected by Texas Labor Code § 451.001.

In response to her report of injury and treatment as protected by Texas Labor Code § 451.001 Doyle Dennis Avery LLP ’s client faced discriminatory actions from Republic Bag Co. and was ultimately wrongfully fired on or about June 15, 2020. Employers such as Republic Bag Co. are prohibited from firing or otherwise discriminating against employees for filing workers’ compensation claims, as identified in both Texas Labor Code §451.001 or 29 U.S.C § 215. Doyle Dennis Avery LLP ’s client did not receive the proper protections or rights guaranteed under the Texas Labor Code for injured workers, but was met ultimately with retaliatory and discriminatory firing from her job.

If you have suffered from discrimination, retaliation, termination, or firing after reporting a work place injury to your employer, filing workers’ compensation claim, or other protected actions please contact us. Texas employees, including you, may have the right to pursue a claim against your employer under the Texas Labor Code or Fair Labor Standards Act. The lawyers at Doyle Dennis Avery LLP have decades of experience in representing injured workers under these laws. Doyle Dennis Avery LLP Trial attorneys will ensure you receive the utmost care and we will fight all the way for what you deserve. Our attorneys have decades of successful trial experience and can lend that expertise to you. For a no-cost evaluation of your potential legal claim, contact the lawyers at Doyle Dennis Avery LLP .

Texas employers often tell their employees that they are working “at will” as a means to suggest Texas employers are free at any time to take any action against an employee, including firing them. However, Texas law has various protections for injured workers, including Texas Labor Code, Section 451.001. The protections and legal analysis of a potential wrongful termination or discrimination claim does not stop there and includes various protections for employees injured while on the job.

Specifically, the Texas Labor Code forbids an employer from wrongfully terminating or retaliating against an employee for initiating and/or filing a workers’ compensation claim. Based upon this law, Doyle Dennis Avery LLP has recently filed suit against Michael McCreery d/b/a B-Mac Company. Doyle Dennis Avery LLP ’s client was a loyal and hard-working employee of B-Mac company who on or about August 21,2018 sustained a lifting injury to his neck and back while working on the job. Doyle Dennis Avery LLP ’s client reported this injury to his superiors and employer as is required for Texas workplace injuries. Texas employees who are injured while performing their work duties are granted certain protections for workers’ compensation. Under Texas law, a workers’ compensation claim is the primary way that Texas workers’ receive benefits, including medical and income benefits after they are injured at work. Without these protections and benefits guaranteed under the Texas Labor Code, Texas workers would have to fend for themselves after an injury they sustained on the job that may impair their ability to continue work in the near future or long-term.

After Doyle Dennis Avery LLP ’s client suffered the work injury and reported it to his employer he was met with hostility, harassment and ultimately terminated on or about September 28,2018. Simply pursuing a workers’ compensation claim for an on the job injury under Texas law cannot be met with negative actions or termination. Doyle Dennis Avery LLP has filed suit on behalf of this injured worker to protect his right against wrongful termination under the Texas Labor Code. The suit seeks lost wages, future lost earning capacity, mental anguish damages, pain and suffering, and punitive damages arising from the wrongful firing.

Doyle Dennis Avery LLP ’s lawyers strongly believe in the importance of protecting injured workers, who suffer from retaliation or discrimination. Nobody should lose their job or face further repercussions for simply doing their job and what is legally allowed of them after a workplace injury. If you have been the victim or workplace discrimination or wrongful termination, call us today for a no-cost initial evaluation of your potential legal rights and remedies.