Bruce Steckler To Head Efforts to Help Policyholders
Rebuild Homes and Businesses

Dallas, TX (December 22, 2008) Dallas-based law firm Baron & Budd, P.C., recently named to the National Law Journal’s “Plaintiff’s Hot List,” announced today the creation of a dedicated insurance claims practice to be headed by shareholder Bruce Steckler. The practice has been established to assist home and business owners in negotiating property insurance claims initially related to Hurricane Ike in the firm’s home state of Texas and Hurricane Gustav in Louisiana.

Steckler, a veteran civil justice attorney with a long record of successfully representing clients in insurance disputes, became interested in helping businesses and homeowners affected by catastrophic events following the losses experienced by his own family in Galveston, Texas.

“My in-laws are typical examples of homeowners who are trying desperately to rebuild, but who are now tangled up in the confusing and frustrating process of obtaining the funds to which they are entitled from their insurance companies,” said Steckler. “The system is too flawed, too complex and too skewed toward the insurance companies’ interests for individuals or companies to navigate without experienced legal assistance.”

While Texas’ most destructive hurricane devastated Galveston County on September 12, 2008, flooding over 100,000 homes, most property owners are only now discovering the full extent of the damages and estimating the true cost of rebuilding. With an influx of new lawsuits expected to be filed early in the new year, Baron & Budd is employing independent claims adjusters to thoroughly assess homes and buildings (including offices, churches, commercial and retail buildings, etc.) and advising clients on how to contest tactics commonly used by insurance companies to avoid paying legitimate claims, including: denial of covered claims; ambiguous policy exclusions; attempts to blame the damage on excluded causes; underpayment due to computerized data sources; undervalued claims when solely obvious damage is considered; and unreasonable delays in investigating and evaluating damages.

“Contrary to the businesses in Louisiana and southeast Texas that are battling both hurricane damages and a difficult economy, the country’s insurance companies are flush with assets,” said Russell Budd, founder and managing shareholder of Baron & Budd. “The assets of the top ten insurance companies in this country exceed the GDP of every nation in the world except for two. Yet, too often, it requires legal action to force them to uphold their fiduciary responsibilities to their policyholders.”

Baron & Budd is partnering with Louisiana-based Kanner & Whitely, LLC, which recently won a Hurricane Katrina insurance dispute on behalf of a parish school district after four years and has been successful in achieving substantial increases for their clients over the initial offer they received from their insurance companies.

“People who are homeless or without incomes don’t have time to wait months and years for the funds to rebuild their homes and businesses,” said Steckler. “On the other hand, if they settle too soon, they may overlook deeper structural damages to their property that they will no longer be able to claim to their insurance companies.”

Steckler has been a successful advocate for consumers in insurance-related cases, including medical malpractice and private injury, and has been recognized in D Magazine’s “Best Lawyers under 40" feature in 2002, 2004, and 2006, and by Texas Monthly and Law & Politics Media as a “Texas Super Lawyer” in 2004, 2005 and 2007. Bruce also enjoys an “AV” rating by Martindale Hubbell Law Directory, its highest rating.

About Baron and Budd, P.C.

For more than 30 years, the law firm of Baron & Budd, P.C. has championed the rights of people and communities harmed by corporate misconduct. With approximately 50 attorneys and offices in California, Texas and Louisiana, Baron & Budd enjoys a national reputation as a leader of the plaintiffs' bar, having been repeatedly recognized by the NLJ’s Plaintiffs’ Hot List. The firm represents individuals with mesothelioma and other diseases caused by exposure to asbestos and other toxic substances; water authorities seeking clean-up costs for drinking water contamination; government entities and whistleblowers fighting corporate fraud through Qui Tam and False Claims Act cases; securities investors defrauded by corporate wrongdoing; and consumers in class actions and insurance coverage litigation