HOUSTON CONSUMER LAW ATTORNEY

J. Cole Brooks
Attorney & Counselor At Law
Kubosh & Associates
1619 Lubbock
Houston, TX 77007
Cell: 281-795-4720
Office: 713-222-0880
fax: 713-222-7020
email: jcole@colebrookslaw.com
website: www.colebrookslaw.com

Administrator Consumer Law

Under Texas law, insurance companies owe a fiduciary obligation to their insured. This means that insurance companies must exercise the duty of good faith and fair dealing in their relationship with the insured. Failure to do so will give rise to a cause of action commonly known as “Insurance Bad Faith”. Insurance companies have a duty to pay their policyholders’ claims fully and in a timely manner. Even if the insurance provider is not engaging in fraudulent activity, certain actions by the insurer may still be evidence of bad faith on the part of the insurer.

Among the numerous examples of how an insurer can commit bad faith and deny your claim are:

* Failure to investigate a claim in a timely manner
* Unnecessary delay in payment of benefits
* Offering inadequate, unfair value for losses suffered
* Unfair interpretation of the insured’s policy
* Refusal to reach a settlement in the case
* Refusal to reimburse you for the entirety of your loss.

When an Insurance Company violates its duty of good faith and fair dealing, or otherwise violates the Texas Insurance Code it may give rise to a lawsuit on behalf of the insured. In the lawsuit, the insured may be entitled to statutory penalties, treble damages and attorney fees.

Administrator Consumer Law, Insurance Bad Faith Insurance Bad Faith

The Stowers Doctrine holds that a liability insurer that undertakes the defense of an insured has a duty to act in good faith in settling a liability claim. Courts have interpreted the “duty to defend” language in standard insurance policies as giving liability insurers absolute control over the conduct of the defense. Whether to settle a liability claim is therefore completely within the discretion of the liability insurer under the terms of the policy contract. If the injured party makes a pretrial offer to settle a liability claim for an amount within the liability policy limit, the insurer is not obligated to accept the offer and has the contractual right to take the claim to trial. To protect insureds from abusive practices, courts impose an extra-contractual duty on insurers to act in good faith when deciding whether to reject a pretrial settlement offer that is within policy limits. If the insurer acts unreasonably and rejects a good pretrial settlement offer within policy limits, unwisely takes the claim to trial, loses, and the jury returns a verdict against the insured for an amount above policy limits, the defaulting insured may be liable to pay the entire judgment under the Stowers Doctrine, even the excess portion above policy limits.

Administrator Insurance Bad Faith Insurance Bad Faith

You have a right to demand that the landlord repair any condition that materially affects your health and safety. Under Texas law, by renting you the property, the landlord guarantees that the unit will be a fit place to live, unless otherwise modified by agreement between the tenant and the landlord.

If the landlord won’t make repairs needed to protect your health, safety or security and you follow the procedures required by law, you may be entitled to:

• End the lease;
• Have the problem repaired and deduct the cost of the
repair from the rent or;
• File suit to force the landlord to make the repairs.

You MUST Follow These Steps:

Step 1: Send the landlord a dated letter by certified mail, return receipt requested, or by registered mail, outlining the needed repairs. You may also deliver the letter in person. Keep a copy of the letter. Be sure that your rent is current when the notice is received.

Step 2: Your landlord should make a diligent effort to repair the problem within a reasonable time after receipt of the notice. The law presumes seven days to be a reasonable time, but the landlord can rebut this presumption. If the landlord has not made a diligent effort to complete the repair within seven days and you did not have the first notice letter delivered to your landlord via certified mail, return receipt requested, or via registered mail, send a second notice letter regarding the needed repairs.

Step 3: If the landlord still has not made diligent efforts to repair the problem within a reasonable time after receipt of the notice letter sent by certified mail, return receipt requested, or by registered mail, you may be entitled to terminate the lease, repair the problem and deduct the cost from your rent or get a court to order that the repairs be made. You should consult with an attorney before taking any of these actions.

Under Texas law, it is illegal for a landlord to retaliate against you for complaining in good faith about necessary repairs for a period of six months from the date you made such a complaint.

Administrator Landlord-Tenant Landlord-Tenant

Debt collectors are not allowed to use the following harassing or abusive tactics:

* Use of or threatening violence or criminal means to harm you;
* Use of obscene or profane language;
* Advertising your debt for sale;
* Telephoning you repeatedly or continuously with the intent to annoy or harass; or
* Placing telephone calls without meaningful disclosures of their identity.

Likewise, debt collectors are not allowed to deceive consumers with the following:

* False representations that they are government representatives;
* Falsely represent that they will seize, garnish or sell any property or wages unless such action is lawful;
* False representations that you have committed a crime or that you will be arrested or imprisoned;
* Threats to communicate false credit information with any other person;
* Falsely implying that the debt collector is employed by a credit bureau;
* False representations implying that they are attorneys or that there is the involvement of an attorney in collecting a debt;
* Falsely indicating the legal status of papers or forms sent to you;
* Use of a false name;
* Misrepresenting the amount of the debt; or
* Sending you something resembling an official document from a court or governmental agency when it is not.

Administrator Debt Collection Practices Debt Collection Practices

The Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act “DTPA”. This is the basic consumer protection statute in Texas. It prohibits a laundry list of deceptive trade practices and gives consumers the right to sue for damages. It requires that consumers who win deceptive trade practice lawsuits be awarded their attorney’s fees and in some cases provides for damages of up to three times a consumer’s actual damages. Many of the other consumer protection statutes in Texas tie-in to the Deceptive Trade Practices Act and allow consumers to sue under the Act for violation of those statutes.

The full text of the DTPA can be found at section 17.41 of the Texas Business and Commerce Code. Specifically, section 17.46(b) of the Texas Business and Commerce Code contains a non-exclusive list of 25 prohibited acts. Some of the prohibited acts include:

* Passing off goods or services as those of another
* False representation
* False disparagement of goods or services of another business
* False advertising (in certain circumstances)
* Fraud by repairpersons (i.e. mechanic’s shops)
* False misrepresentation
* Motor vehicle Fraud
* False warranties
* Failure to disclose certain information in sales of goods and services
* False representation of business entity status
* Price gauging after a disaster

Administrator Deceptive Trade Practice Act Deceptive Trade Practice Act

My business litigation and civil litigation practice is focused primarily in the areas of accident & injury law, consumer law, employment discrimination, family law, and probate & estate administration. I have experience from working in the Nebraska Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division in handling consumer law and business litigation matters. I aggressively advocate of behalf of consumers that have been the victims of consumer fraud, unfair debt collection practices, deceptive trade practices, identity theft, fair credit reporting act violations, insurance bad faith, landlord-tenant disputes, and other consumer law matters.

I practice in the Houston metro area, including Brazoria, Fort Bend, Galveston, Harris, Montgomery, and the other surrounding counties, as well as municipalities throughout these counties. I am committed to providing clients quality, yet compassionate, legal representation during the most difficult and stressful time in their lives. Clients trust me to aggressively protect the most important things in their lives, such as, their livelihood, their reputation, their property, their loved ones, and their peace of mind.

Attorney Profile

Administrator Consumer Law