Michael is a trial and appellate lawyer. He focuses his practice on complex legal matters, involving professional malpractice (all disciplines), directors and officers, HOA law, school law, sovereign immunity, and coverage disputes.
Michael graduated from South Texas College of Law in 1993. While there, Michael served as President of the Board of Advocates (1992-93), elected to the National Order of Barristers, and earned membership into the Order of the Lytae Honor Society. Michael was a member of three first place national moot court teams, including the Tulane University Sports Law Competition where he was named Best Advocate and the John Marshall Privacy Law Competition where he co-authored the Best Brief, which is published in the Software Law Journal at 6 Software Law Journal 115 (Feb. 1993). Michael served as an adjunct professor/advocacy assistant for South Texas College of Law’s advocacy program until 2005; his teams won five national titles.
Michael’s professional accomplishments include serving as lead appellate counsel for the City of Houston in a consolidated proceeding with other municipalities before the Texas Supreme Court in a case that answered the question of whether sovereign immunity exists in breach of contract cases. Michael and the firm’s work on this matter resulted in the Supreme Court’s landmark decision of City of Mexia v. Tooke, which recognized sovereign immunity in breach of contract cases. Michael successfully led a litigation team of nine attorneys through a two-month trial defending allegations that his client’s stole two billion cubic feet of gas through a casing leak—a case the the Hattiesburg American reported as being one of the longest trials ever in Lamar County, Mississippi.
Michael Hudgins is a second-generation Houstonian and second-generation graduate of South Texas College of Law. Following law school and before beginning his practice, Michael served as a Briefing Attorney to the Honorable Murry B. Cohen of the First Court of Appeals in Houston from 1993-94. He is a frequent lecturer at continuing legal education seminars in both Texas and New York.
Representative Cases
• Tanglewood v. Feldman, 436 S.W.3d 48 (Tex.App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 2014, pet. denied) (judgment for attorneys’ fees reversed on the basis that attorneys’ fees are not available under the Texas Declaratory Judgment Act where attorneys’ fees are not otherwise available in an HOA dispute).
• In re Ranchers and Farmers Mut. Ins. Co., 2011 WL 1631820 (Tex.App.—Beaumont, April 28, 2011) (mandamus relief granted following trial court’s denial of motion to compel appraisal).
• City of Houston v. Allco, Inc., 206 S.W.3d 113 (Tex. 2006) (case decided by City of Mexia v. Tooke, which held immunity from suit not waived in breach of contract cases).
• Sydlik v. REEIII, Inc., 195 S.W.3d 329 (Tex.App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 2006, no pet.) (affirmed summary judgment granted under the doctrine of release).
• Gillespie v. Scherr, 987 S.W.2d 129 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 1998, pet. denied) (affirmed summary judgment against attorney who filed an attempted class action suit, holding lawyer’s professional duty does not extend to putative class action Plaintiffs).
• Verinakis v. Medical Profiles, Inc., 987 S.W.2d 90 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 1998, pet. denied) (affirmed summary judgment in a fear of AIDS case where medical testing company reported the claimant wrongly notified insurance applicant and claimant that he had tested positive for HIV).
• State v. Wollesen, 93 S.W.3d 910 (Tex. App.—Austin 2002, no pet.) (affirmed judgment following a jury trial in a wrongful death suit, involving waiver of sovereign immunity in special defect case).
Honors and Awards
• Martindale Peer Review: AV® Preeminent™ 5.0 out of 5
• Selected to Super Lawyers 2011 – 2020
• Fellow, Texas Bar Foundation
