About Me

Tom assists clients with trials and appellate matters in Texas state courts, the U.S. District Court for Southern District of Texas, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. He is licensed to practice before the United States Supreme Court. He works with in-house counsel and trial teams from other firms to provide pre-trial, trial and post-trial motion support and assistance in preserving error. Tom also provides clients with assistance on original proceedings and default judgments. Tom has handled more than 200 appeals and participated in more than 400 briefs since 1988. In addition, he was named by Texas Monthly as 1 of 3 "Super Lawyers" in Appellate Practice for the Corpus Christi area for the last three years. Super Lawyers are limited to no more than 5% of practicing lawyers in the State of Texas.

Professional Licenses

• State Bar of Texas, 1985
• U.S District Court, Southern District of Texas

Education

• J.D., Texas Tech School of Law, 1985
• B.B.A., Texas Tech University, 1982

Professional Associations

• Corpus Christi Bar Association, Member
• State Bar of Texas, Member
  • Appellate Section, Member
• Texas Bar Foundation, Fellow
• Appellate Board Certification Committee, Member
• Texas Association of Defense Counsel

Awards

• Judge Paul W. Nye Professionalism Award, Corpus Christi Bar Association, 2010

Notable Cases

• In re Columbia Valley Healthcare System, L.P. d/b/a Valley Regional Medical Center,_S.W.3d_,No. 08-0995,2010 WL 3366007 (Tex. 2010) Plantiff's counsel hired legal assistant who had previously worked for defense counsel and performed work on the case for both. The Texas Supreme Court reversed the Court of Appeals' and Trial Court's Judgments and held in client's favor that when screening measures are demonstrated to be ineffective, disqualification is required.

• JCW Electronics, Inc v. Garza, 257, 257 S.W.3d 701 (Tex. 2008) The Court of Appeals' and the Trial Court's judgments were reversed and rendered in a death claim wherein Plaintiffs sought damages for breach of implied warranty in an attempt to circumvent the comparative responsibility statute. The Texas Supreme Court held that parties who seek damages for death and personal injury pursuant to a breach of implied warranty claim under article 2 of the Uniform Commercial Code seek damages in tort and are accordingly subject to proportionate responsibilities scheme.

• Military Highway Water Supply Corp. v. Morin, 156 S.W.3d 569 (Tex.2005) Wrongful death and survival action against a public utility to recover for rollover accident. The Texas Supreme Court reversed and rendered judgment in favor of the client holding that the public utility owed no duty to the plaintiff.

• Brownsville Valley Regional Medical Center v. Gamez, 894 S.W.2d 753 (Tex.1995) The Texas Supreme Court held for the first time that a guardian ad litem may not recover fees for services rendred after resolution of conflict. The Court reversed and rendered judgment in client's favor.