The Dick Law Firm and its Client Sanctioned

Summary Judgment Against Plaintiff's Bad Faith Case and Insurer Granted Attorneys Fees
Post 5177

Contumacious Conduct to Texas Court Causes Insured Plaintiff and her Lawyer to Have a Judgment in Favor of the Insurer and Both Charged to Pay More Than $137,000

In Carmen Aleman, Eric B. Dick, And The Dick Law Firm, PLLC v. Standard Casualty Company, No. 01-23-00572-CV, Court of Appeals of Texas, First District (August 26, 2025)

Background

Carmen Aleman, along with Eric B. Dick and the Dick Law Firm, PLLC, filed a lawsuit against Standard Casualty Company for breach of contract, breach of the duty of good faith and fair dealing, fraud, and violations of the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act (DPTA) and the Texas Insurance Code.

According to Aleman, at some point, "someone . . . stop[ped] by to look at [the property] and there was some damage," but she did not remember who that "someone" was or what kind of damage he saw. Aleman, herself, had not seen damage to the property and did not know the cause of any damage.  In the litigation Aleman claimed that her property was damaged by a wind and hail storm on October 23, 2020, and sought damages and attorney's fees.

Standard's Response

Standard denied the allegations, asserting that Aleman had not presented a covered loss within the policy period and had already been paid for a separate wind damage claim. Standard moved for summary judgment, arguing that Aleman could not establish that she suffered hail damage covered by her policy and that there was no evidence to support her claims.

Inspection and Findings

An inspection of Aleman's property on February 11, 2021, revealed no evidence of hail or wind damage to the roof or exterior. The damage found was deemed preexisting and not caused by a named peril under Aleman's policy. Standard notified Aleman on February 24, 2021, that her claim was not covered.

Expert Testimonies:

Aleman's designated experts, including Richard Gadrow, Billy Bray, Matthew Morgan, and Shiran Perera, provided testimonies that were inconsistent and lacked evidence to support Aleman's claims. Bray testified that he owned a commercial insurance brokerage, and he had been contacted about Aleman's case in January 2023 by her attorney. He had never spoken to Aleman, and he had not inspected the property. He was not told that he had been designated as an expert witness by Aleman, and he had not been told whether he was going to testify in the case.

Court's Decision

The trial court granted Standard's motion for summary judgment, finding that Aleman failed to present admissible evidence to support her claims and also awarded Standard $137,000 in attorney's fees as sanctions against both Aleman and her attorney.

Appeal

Aleman, Dick, and the Dick Law Firm appealed the trial court's decision, arguing that the court erred in granting summary judgment, sanctioning them, and awarding attorney's fees.

ANALYSIS

Standard moved to recover attorney's fees under the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure, the Texas Insurance Code, the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code, and the DTPA, asserting that Aleman had filed a frivolous lawsuit, which was sanctionable conduct. Aleman testified in her own deposition that she "had no knowledge of the cause of the damage to [the property]."

The trial court granted Standard's request for attorney's fees pursuant to Texas Insurance Code section 541.153. Following the admission of evidence at trial, the jury found, that Standard was entitled to recover $137,000 for representation in the trial court, $16,250 for representation in the court of appeals, $10,000 for representation at the petition for review stage in the Texas Supreme Court, $10,000 for representation at the briefing on the merits stage in the Texas Supreme Court, and $12,000 for representation at the oral argument stage and through the completion of the proceedings in the Texas Supreme Court.

Due to Aleman and her counsel's failure to support by any claim pled in this lawsuit and the failure to identify any effort to investigate a basis in law or fact to support the pleadings, the court found that there was no evidentiary support for any claim pled by Aleman in this lawsuit and that the lawsuit was brought for an improper purpose, including to cause unnecessary delay and the needless increase of the cost of litigation.

In addition the court found that the Expert Designations filed by Aleman and her attorneys, Dick and the Dick Law Firm, were misleading and contained false information about designated witnesses.

Summary-Judgment Evidence

Finally, Standard's uncontroverted summary-judgment evidence established as a matter of law that Aleman could not show that the damage to the property was covered by her policy or that the damage was incurred at a time covered by the policy. As such Aleman is unable to maintain a breach-of-contract claim against Standard, and  the Court of Appeal held that the trial court did not err in granting Standard summary judgment on Aleman's breach-of-contract claim.

The amount of fees were reversed and remanded.

ZALMA OPINION

It is difficult for me to understand why a licensed attorney would designate multiple expert witnesses to testify at trial without first getting the agreement of the expert and explaining the need to testify at trial. I testify as an expert and in my long career I was only designated once by an attorney who did not tell me he had designated me. He was greatly sanctioned for doing so and I was compelled to report him to the Bar. In this case multiple experts who had insufficient or no information about which they could testify was contumacious and a complete breach of the oath taken by all lawyers resulting in causing his client to be liable for more than $100,000 in the insurer's attorneys fees and a summary judgment in favor of the insurer.

(c) 2025 Barry Zalma & ClaimSchool, Inc.

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