Erik E. Ekvall

Erik Ekvall graduated from Wake Forest University School of Law in 1985. He moved to Dallas and began his insurance defense litigation practice, defending numerous first-party cases against insurance carriers in areas such as breach of contract, violations of the Texas Deceptive Trade Practice Act and Insurance Code, and breach of the duty of good faith and fair dealing. Many of these cases arose out of claims that the carrier had denied based upon arson or fraud, and virtually all involved exposure significantly in excess of the carrier’s policy limits. Erik subsequently joined the Dallas firm of Page & Addison, P.C. in October, 1990, where he headed that firm’s insurance defense section, handling general liability, employment and workers’ compensation litigation within Texas and supervising and directing the handling of insurance defense litigation throughout the country on behalf of Club Corporation International. Erik continued to practice primarily in the area of insurance law, particularly property, personal injury, transportation and first-party insurance defense litigation until he joined with Rick Byrne in founding Ekvall & Byrne, L.L.P. in June, 1999.

In addition to the dozens of auto cases that Erik has taken to trial, he has also tried a wide variety of other types of cases, including:

A suit, and its’ subsequent appeal, brought by homeowners against their insurance carrier for breach of contract and multiple extra-contractual claims, including a claim for more than $3,000,000 in exemplary damages, arising out of the carrier’s denial of the homeowners’ foundation claim;
A suit seeking well over $1,000,000 in medical expenses incurred due to injuries sustained as a result of a collision that occurred on I-30 in Grand Prairie, Texas, between a fully loaded concert tour bus and a large commercial street sweeper;
A suit seeking breach of contract and bad faith damages arising out of an insurance carrier’s denial of coverage for wind damage to commercial grain elevators;
An arson case involving the destruction of an Austin printing company by its’ owner;
A personal injury action, and its’ later appeal, brought against a towing company arising out of a multi-vehicle accident on the Dallas North Tollway;
A suit brought against a commercial escort vehicle company for the destruction of the multi-million dollar cargo of an escorted “supersize” extended tractor/trailer when a collision occurred at a railroad crossing between the loaded vehicle and a train;
A suit between medical practices arising out of a dispute over retention of patents following the breakup of a medical practice;
Claims arising out of the theft of trade secrets and customer lists by a departing sales manager and employees.
In addition, Erik has tried many arson, insurance fraud and bad faith cases.

Erik has spoken before insurance industry groups on many topics, including proper claims handling and claims investigation techniques and compliance with DPTA and Insurance Code guidelines.

Education:
Wake Forest University School of Law, J.D., 1985
Culver Military Academy; Denison University, B.A. in Economics, 1982

Bar Admissions:
Texas

Court Admissions:
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas
U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit

Practice Areas:
Insurance Defense Litigation
Property & Personal Injury
Business Litigation
Commercial Litigation

Professional Affiliations and Memberships:
AV Preeminent® Peer Review Rated Attorney by Martindale-Hubbell
State Bar of Texas
Dallas Bar Association
American Bar Association
Texas Association of Defense Counsel
Defense Research Institute
Claims & Litigation Management Alliance
Trucking Industry Defense Association
Transportation Lawyers Association

Appeals:
Weber v. Progressive Cty. Mut. Ins. Co., No. 05-17-00163-CV, 2018 WL 564001, (Tex. App.—Dallas Jan. 26, 2018, pet. filed)
Loncar v. Progressive Cty. Mut. Ins. Co., 553 S.W.3d 586 (Tex. App.—Dallas 2018, no pet.)
Parker v. Bill Melton Trucking, Inc., 715 F. App’x 438 (5th Cir. 2018, reh’g en banc denied)
Taylor v. Hill, No. 05-15-00385-CV, 2016 WL 825722 (Tex. App. Mar. 3, 2016, no pet.)
Edwards v. Progressive County Mut. Ins. Co., No. 05-14-00643-CV (Tex. App.—Dallas Oct. 20, 2014)
Weeks v Cockrum, 2014 WL 1512470 (Dallas, 2014, no pet.)
Welborn v Ferrell Enterprises, Inc. 378 SW3rd 902 (Dallas 2012, no pet.)
Townsel v. Dadash, Inc., 2012 WL 1403246 (Tex. App. – Dallas)
Verhoev v. Progressive Co. Mut. Ins. Co., 300 S.W, 3d 803 (Tex.App.- Ft. Worth 2009, no pet)
Caldwell v. Carrollton Air Conditioning, Inc., 2007 WL 2390425 (Tex. App. – Amarillo)
Ramirez v Pruitt, 2006 WL 1562569 (Ft. Worth, 2006, no pet.)
Miller v. Progressive County Mutual Ins. Co., 2005 WL 2404105 (Tex. App. – Tyler 2005)
Pikul v. Kroger Co. Store No. 536, Tex. App. Lexis 1288 (Fort Worth 2005)
Ostrander v. Progressive Co. Mut. Ins. Co., 2005 Tex. App., Lexis 393 (Dallas 2005)
Empire Indemnity Ins. Co. v. Domdom, 2003 Tex. App. Lexis 7135 (Corpus Christi, 2004)
Nordstrud v. Trinity Univ. Ins. Co., 97 S.W. 3d 749 (Tex. App. – Fort Worth, 2003)
Brian Davis v. Thurston Enterprises, Inc., 2000 WL 291395 (Tex. App. – Dallas)
Trinity Univ. Ins. Co. V. Sweatt, 978 S.W.2d 267 (Tex. App. – Fort Worth 1998, no writ)
State Farm Mut. Ins. Co. v. Peck, 900 S.W.2d 910 (Tex. App. – Amarillo 1995, no writ)
Lundy v. Allstate Ins. Co., 774 S.W.2d 352 (Tex. App. – Beaumont 1989, no writ)

Foreign Languages:
German