Lee H. Staley is a principal with the firm the Houston office. Lee is a native of Wichita Fall, Texas. He graduated from the University of Texas in 1996 with a B.A. and then from South Texas College of Law, cum laude, with a Juris Doctor degree. Lee is licensed in the Southern, Eastern, Northern and Western Districts of Texas, along with the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Lee’s principal area of practice concentrates on the defense of professionals in malpractice claims, including, among others, insurance brokerage firms and agents, broker-dealers, registered representatives, investment advisors, certified financial planners, architects, engineers, surveyors, and other design professionals. In connection with his defense of professionals in malpractice claims, Lee also represents attorneys, accountants, real estate brokers and agents, appraisers, home inspectors, title agents, and health care professionals.
Lee specializes in the representation of insurance professionals, ranging from small independent agencies to nationally recognized brokerages, in defense of malpractice claims in all lines of coverage, ranging from personal lines, including auto, health, home, and life, to commercial lines, including commercial general liability, errors and omissions and directors and officers, among many others. Lee also represents brokers and agents in claims arising from the sale of investment products and employee benefit plans. Lee also represents insurance brokerage firms and agents before the Texas Department of Insurance (TDI).
Lee has extensive experience defending broker-dealers, registered representatives, investment advisors, certified financial planners, and other financial services professionals in connection with a wide-array of customer and industry claims and disputes before numerous state and federal courts throughout Texas and before the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FNRA) in arbitrations throughout the country. He has significant experience representing financial services professionals before the regulatory divisions of FINRA, the SEC, and various state securities bureaus.
Lee routinely defends malpractice claims brought against attorneys, accountants, real estate brokers and agents, appraisers, home inspectors, title agents, and health care professionals. He has also represented attorneys in complaints before the State Bar Grievance Committee and real estate brokers, agents, and home inspectors before the Texas Real Estate Commission (TREC).
Lee also devotes a significant portion of his practice to defending architects, engineers, surveyors, and other design professionals and contractors in construction defect and delay claims, in state courts throughout Texas and before the American Arbitration Association (AAA). He has considerable experience defending insurance brokerage firms and agents in malpractice claims throughout Texas.
Lee’s practice also includes a variety of litigation matters, such as director and officer liability, employment liability, ERISA claims, commercial litigation, business disputes, civil rights violations, technology and cyber liability/disputes, transportation, and other personal injury claims, including wrongful death and catastrophic injury, commercial claims, consumer claims, debt collection defense, and insurance coverage disputes, including extra-contractual claims.
In the area of product liability, Lee has represented both foreign and domestic product manufacturers and distributors in state and federal courts, where he has successfully defended them in claims for wrongful death and catastrophic injuries. Products he has defended range from heavy industrial equipment to consumer appliances, electronics and medical devices, among others.
His premises liability defense work focuses on defending building owners and managers in cases involving injuries to tenants, employees, and premises invitees by criminal acts of third parties, many of which involve claims of wrongful death and significant injury.
Lee was previously a Houston partner for a AmLaw 100 firm based in New York, where he handled professional, product, and premises liability claims, and other high exposure personal injury matters, for a national client base. Later, he was a founding partner of the Houston office of another New York-based law firm, where he specialized in securities litigation, in addition to the above practice areas.
Professional Memberships and Affiliations
• Houston Bar Association
• American Bar Association Bar Association of the Fifth Federal Circuit (BAFFC)
• Professional Liability Underwriting Society (PLUS)
• Texas Bar Foundation, Fellow
• Defense Research Institute
• Construction, Texas Law Section
• CLM, a member of the Institutes
Representative Experience
• Obtained summary judgment in favor of prominent medical equipment manufacturer in a Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act (DTPA) and breach of warranty action in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, McAllen Division.
• Obtained dismissal in favor of the exclusive United States distributor for the global leader in bicycle parts manufacturing in a significant exposure, product liability action in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, Houston Division.
• Obtained summary judgment in favor of an industry leading medical equipment manufacturer in a potential seven-figure negligence action in Cameron County, Texas.
• Obtained summary judgment in favor of a large corporate services company in a premises liability case U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Beaumont Division.
• Obtained a dismissal of in favor of an emergency medical care air transport company in a wrongful death, medical malpractice action in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, Waco Division.
• Obtained complete dismissal with prejudice of an insured and its insurance agency for claims brought by the insurer the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas, Houston Division to rescind a commercial general liability policy based on alleged material misrepresentations in the renewal application for the policy.
• Obtained summary judgment in favor of an industry leading electrical device manufacturer in a wrongful death, product liability action in the State District Court of Galveston County, Texas.
• Obtained defense judgment following a bench trial in favor of a manufacturer of a home stereo system in a product liability action in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, Houston Division; where Plaintiffs alleged that a defect in the stereo system caused a fire, resulting in substantial property damages.
• Obtained defense verdict in a truck collision case in the State District Court of Bexar County, Texas, where plaintiff was claiming significant damages.
• Obtained summary judgment in favor of a broker-dealer and registered representative in state district court action based on alleged misrepresentations involving alternate investments.
• Obtained dismissals of broker-dealers and registered representatives in FINRA arbitration under FINRA Rule 12206.
• Obtained dismissals of attorney grievances before the State Bar Grievance Committee.
• Obtained summary judgments in insurance broker malpractice claims in multiple state district courts in Texas.
• Obtained dismissals of complaints against insurance agents/brokers before the Texas Department of Insurance.
• Obtained summary judgments of professional home inspector malpractice claims in n multiple state district courts in Texas.
• Obtained summary judgments in attorney malpractice claims in multiple state district courts in Texas.
• Obtained dismissals of complaints against professional home inspectors before the Texas Real Estate Commission (TREC).
• Represented the exclusive United States distributor of a global leader in concrete truck manufacturing in a high exposure, product liability action involving wrongful death in the state district court in Texas.
• Regularly defends architects & engineers and contractors in commercial and residential construction litigation in AAA arbitrations and in state district courts throughout Texas.
• Regularly defends real estate agents/brokers and professional residential and commercial inspectors in professional liability claims in state and federal district courts throughout Texas.
• Regularly defends building owners and managers in cases involving injuries to tenants, employees and premises invitees by criminal acts of third parties, many of which matters involve claims of wrongful death and significant injury.
• Regularly defends broker-dealers and registered representatives in FINRA arbitrations in Texas and nationwide.
Interests
• Married to his wife, Ann, since 2004, they are proud parents to three children. In his free time, he enjoys coaching his sons in SBMSA football and basketball, playing USTA tennis, hunting in South Texas, and skiing and hiking in Wyoming and Colorado.
Civic Involvement
• Member of St. Luke’s Methodist Church, where he taught Sunday School. Former Board Member of the Houston Racquet Club
