Blog | Hurricane Law Firm in Houston and Galveston

Settlements for Ike “Slab” Homeowners Announced

Doyle Raizner LLP is pleased to announce that a settlement framework has been reached for all residential “slab” claims arising out of Hurricane Ike. The total settlement is $189 million for approximately 2400 homeowners, including those represented by Doyle Raizner LLP. The settlement amounts will be allocated to homeowners based on their individual damages, and the settlement was reached after days and weeks of negotiations with Texas Windstorm. The negotiations for this settlement were led by a group of plaintiff’s lawyers, including Jeff Raizner.

The settlement covers residential “slab” claims, meaning homes that were destroyed with nothing remaining except foundation structures. We anticipate there will be a similar effort to resolve commercial “slab” claims in the near future.

All Doyle Raizner “slab” clients are part of the settlement. Homeowners with “slab” claims who are not represented by a lawyer may qualify for a class action settlement negotiated at the same time as the individual claims, and the calculations will be the same regardless of whether the homeowners is currently represented by an attorney or paid through the class settlement. All “slab” homeowners, whether represented by a lawyer or not, will soon receive notice from the Court about the settlement. If you are not currently represented by a lawyer, call us and we can make sure you are protected in the class settlement or bring an individual claim if appropriate.

Hurricane Ike related claims that are not “slab” claims are not part of this settlement, but Doyle Raizner continues to negotiate and resolve these “non-slab” claims at regular settlement conferences with Texas Windstorm.

We are pleased with the slab settlement, and believe it is a long overdue step on the road to recovery for thousands of homeowners affected by Hurricane Ike and the misconduct by the insurance industry following that disaster. The presiding judge, Honorable Susan Criss of the 212th District Court of Galveston County has stated, “I appreciate all of the hard work by the plaintiffs’ lawyers, the TWIA lawyers and the mediator, Todd Hunter, put into mediating these cases over a period of six full days. The Bolivar/Galveston community deserves closure and the opportunity to rebuild their homes and lives.”

Doyle Raizner represents the historic Galveston Balinese Room in suit against Texas Windstorm Insurance Association

http://www.doyleraizner.com/blog/.

Like many other homes and businesses, the Balinese Room was destroyed during Hurricane Ike. Build on a 600 foot pier at 21st Street and Seawall in Galveston, the Balinese Room over its lifetime hosted such greats as Frank Sinatra, Bob Hope, Jack Benny – and generations of Galvestonians. It survived Hurricanes Carla and Alicia, and was vacant for nearly 20 years before being restored by Scott Arnold and his Arnold Properties, Inc. in 2001. All that remains today are the pilings shown on the photograph below – and the memories of those who participated in its history. Unfortunately, TWIA has not honored its contract to fairly and reasonably protect the financial, historic and cultural value of this important part of Galveston history. A copy of the lawsuit petition is attached. FS – Original Petition.pdf

Hearing on Texas Windstorm Depositions in Harris County

Hearing on Texas Windstorm Depositions in Harris County.

Today Judge Mike Miller conducted a hearing on depositions in Texas Windstorm cases pending in Harris County. Currently, the depositions of certain Texas Windstorm executives are scheduled to take place beginning in late March and continuing into early April, and the depositions have been noticed in Galveston County under a deposition order. We have been concerned that Texas Windstorm is not moving promptly to complete production of written discovery, including documents about their claims handling practices, and that Texas Windstorm would use its own delay in producing documents as an excuse to further delay depositions in these cases. Doyle Raizner does not believe the deposition process should be delayed further, and accordingly we filed a cross notice of these depositions in our Goddard v Texas Windstorm case. Judge Miller determined that the depositions should proceed under an order that obligates Texas Windstorm to produce its witnesses for deposition promptly. The Court’s order will be posted within the next several days at the Court’s website: Harris County Ike Docket

Galveston Jury Awards 1.384 Million in Damages for Insurance Bad Faith

November 20, 2009: A Galveston County jury found that Zurich American Insurance Company acted in bad faith in delaying and denying a workers’ compensation claim of a 44 year old Galld sandblaster injured on the job in October 2007.

The jury found that Zurich unreasonably delayed income benefits for four months, and delayed Doyle Raizner client Jerome Ryan’s medical care for his injured shoulder. Zurich failed to obtain medical records from Mr. Ryan’s doctors, claimed that Mr. Ryan could not chose his own treating physician, and refused to pay him income benefits or for his medical care until ordered to do so by the Texas Department of Insurance.

The jury in Galveston County Court at Law No. 3, Hon. Roy Quintanilla presiding, awarded 1.384 million in damages, including $500,000 in punitive damages.