Faegre Drinker Team Secures Appellate Victory in Texas for State Farm Lloyds

On July 6, 2023, a Faegre Drinker insurance team including Susan Egeland, Matt Sapp and Alex Harrell secured an opinion from the Fort Worth Court of Appeals affirming a summary judgment in favor of client State Farm Lloyds. The win is a significant victory in what has become the prevailing trend amongst Texas appellate courts.

The case involved the interpretation of a relatively new statute enacted by the Texas Legislature in 2017. Following an earlier decision secured by the Faegre Drinker team from the Dallas Court of Appeals, the Fort Worth Court of Appeals affirmed summary judgment where the insurer paid an appraisal award and all possible statutory interest, finding that the plaintiff’s attorney was not entitled to an additional fee award. To wit: “[a]s our sister court held and as we now hold, when an insurer pays an appraisal award and all possible TPPCA interest pretrial, because the Legislature chose not to authorize an attorney’s-fees award untethered from a judgment amount, an insured cannot recover its fees under Chapter 542A.”

Read the opinion here.