Category Archives: Firm News

Patrick Dennis presented at the Advanced Personal Injury Law Course, sponsored by the State Bar of Texas, in Houston, Texas on September 15, 2011. Mr. Dennis’s speech, entitled “Insurance Bad Faith: Into the Heart of Darkness,” focused on bad faith insurance disputes, with a particular focus on bad faith workers’ compensation claims.

The Advanced Personal Injury Law Course will also be held in Houston again from November 2 to 4, and later this year in South Padre Island and Fort Worth.

Doyle will sponsor a community event for the Indo-American Cultural & Religious Foundation of Arizons on Friday, November 11, 2011. Doyle is proud to sponsor this fundraiser for the community, which will take place at the Fundation Community Center for the Indo-American Cultural & Religious Foundation of Arizona, 2809 W. Maryland Ave., Phoenix, Arizona.

Further information is available at the Foundation’s websites:  IACRF and Ekta Mandir.

Doyle is currently handling commercial and residential insurance disputes arising from the October 2010 hailstorm in Phoenix, Arizona.

Mike Doyle taught at the college held by the American Association for Justice (AAJ) on November 11-12, 2011, in Washington, DC.  The educational program, entitled “The Persuasion Edge,” was geared toward teacing enhanced communication skills to attorneys, in order to help them select, develop, and prepare cases for trial.

Also teaching at the college were Eric Oliver and Amy Pardieck.  More information is available here from the AAJ.

The Texas Supreme Court recently heard oral arguments in a workers’ compensation bad faith claim, in which the plaintiff was represented by Doyle Dennis Avery LLP at the trial level, and on appeal by Alan Daughtry.  The plaintiff, Jerome Wagner, sued his workers’ compensation insurer, XL Specialty, after he was injured on the job and XL Specialty denied his claim, forcing him to unneceesarily proceed through the administrative process.

The matter was appealed to address a dispute in discovery about whether the attorney-client privilege attaches to communications between an insurer, its attorney, and the employer that purchased the workers’ compensation policy, while the claim is pending at the administrative level.  XL Specialty’s attorney had prepared materials and sent them to the employer–who was not XL Specialty’s client.

Mr. Daughtry prepared Mr. Wagner’s briefing on appeal and argued the case before the Texas Supreme Court.  The case was recently profiled in the Texas Lawyer Magazine.

The State Bar of Texas CLE invited Mike Doyle to speak today, March 16, 2012, as the luncheon speaker with Mike Dobbs of the State Bar on the Ethical Use of Social Media at the Advanced Medical Malpractice Seminar at the San Antonio Westin Riverwalk.  It is a great opportunity to join some of the best lawyers in Texas and share some tips on how law firms and their lawyers can not only adapt to, but thrive in the social media environment.  With Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and newer social media platforms, attorneys are challenged not just to keep up, bu also to make sure that they do so effectively, and ethically.  Mike Dobbs works for the State Bar in the Advertising Review Division, and he will add important insights into best practices for lawyers utilizng social media.