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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.