Insight

Masters in the Courtroom

A look into The Law Offices of Frank L. Branson and the notable work of its lawyers against negligence.

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Best Lawyers

Best Lawyers

May 31, 2017 03:37 PM

When a distracted truck driver carrying hazardous chemicals caused a wreck that killed an elderly North Texas motorist, the transportation company offered $500,000 to the man’s 83-year-old widow to make up for the company’s negligence. The trial team at The Law Offices of Frank L. Branson presented the case to a jury and won a $20 million verdict.

After a group of investors were swindled out of their share of a lucrative West Texas oilfield mineral rights partnership, the opposing party in a lawsuit filed by The Law Offices of Frank L. Branson thought so little of the case that it did not even make a settlement offer as the trial approached. After weeks of testimony in 2016, the Branson team – Frank L. Branson, Debbie Dudley Branson and Eric Stahl – walked out of the Fisher County courthouse with a $43 million jury verdict.

When a defectively designed SUV caused a rollover accident that cut short a North Texas collegiate soccer player’s promising career, the automaker refused to acknowledge responsibility and made no settlement offer. Again, Dallas trial lawyer Frank L. Branson presented the case to a jury in Federal Court in South Carolina, and secured a $7 million verdict.

In a distinguished career spanning more than three decades, Mr. Branson has earned a reputation for taking cases all the way to trial when necessary. That reputation leads many corporate defendants to the settlement table early rather than face Mr. Branson in a courtroom. But when corporate defendants and their insurance companies attempt to avoid responsibility and present low ball offers to victims, Mr. Branson is more than ready to stand up in a courtroom and present his clients’ cases to a jury.

In five recent trial verdicts handled by the Branson trial team, defendants have offered a total of $800,000 to settle the cases and avoid trial. The result of these five trials has been combined jury verdicts of more than $80 million.

That’s what happened in the 2012 case of a North Texas physician who was forced out of a medical imaging partnership. The trial team, which included Mr. Branson, Eric Stahl, Debbie Dudley Branson, Thomas Farmer and John Burkhead, earned a $10.9 million verdict.

When the Choctaw Casino offered only $50,000 to the family of an elderly woman who died after a charter bus crashed en route to the casino, the trial team of Mr. Branson, Chip Brooker and Debbie Branson earned a $4.08 million verdict for the woman’s family.

While Mr. Branson made a name himself early in his career based on verdicts and settlements in personal injury cases, his team has handled an increasing resulted in an increasing number of high-stakes business dispute lawsuits over the last decade.

“We’ve been doing this for more than three decades, and we’re good at what we do,” says Mr. Branson. “This experience is readily transferable to business trials.”

Recognized among Texas Lawbook’s “Lions of the Bar” and among the Top 10 lawyers in Texas by Super Lawyers, Mr. Branson has won significant and frequently record-setting verdicts and settlements for more than three decades. On multiple occasions, his firm’s verdicts have been recognized by VerdictSearch among the top verdicts in the United States. The Best Lawyers in America has honored him every year since 1987; the National Law Journal named him one of the nation’s 50 Elite Trial Lawyers for Plaintiffs in 2014; VerdictSearch featured him in its inaugural Texas Verdicts Hall of Fame with a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2013; and the Dallas Bar Association named him Trial Lawyer of the Year in 2010.

Whether handling bet-the-company business disputes or individuals seriously injured or killed as a result of accidents and reckless or negligent corporations, Branson and his firm are passionate about representing their clients.

Visit flbranson.com for more information on how Branson and his experienced team use their skills and dedication to protect clients’ legal rights and help restore their lives.

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