Practice Description

Mr. Feiler helps clients in a variety of litigation matters including commercial and construction disputes, along with complex insurance litigation, coverage disputes and rescission actions (especially involving fidelity and surety bonds), and the defense of insureds in a variety of business, property, and personal injury claims. Although primarily on the defense side, his practice includes representation of plaintiffs in complex insurance and commercial litigation, and employment-related claims.

Representative Experience

Representation primarily on defensive side, but also represents plaintiff-insurers in coverage disputes.

Speaker at national programs related to fidelity and surety law.

Selected Publications, Seminars and Cases

Timing is Everything, Except When it Isn’t: The Notice/Prejudice Rule and Its Effect on Fidelity Bond Claims, American Bar Association, Tort Trial & Insurance Practice Section, Fidelity and Surety Law Committee (author and speaker)
(New York, Jan. 27, 2012).

You Can’t Ask That! Asserting Work Product Protection for Deposition Preparation Materials,
20 The Brief, No. 2 (ABA Winter 2011).

Co-Author, When is a Material Change Really Material?, 13th Annual Gulfcoast Fidelity & Surety Institute
(Boca Grande, June 2-5, 2011).

Ponzi Schemes: Claims, Coverage Issues and Quantification of Losses, Surety Claims Institute (author and speaker)
(Cape Cod, MA, June 24-26, 2009).

Contributing Author, The Attorney-Client Privilege and the Work Product Doctrines – The Boundaries of Protected Communications Held By Insureds and Insurers, XIV Fidelity Law Journal
(Michael Keeley and Martha L. Perkins, eds. October 2008).

Co-Author, Voiding A Policy Obtained By Fraud, Other Than Through Normal Rescission, 10th Annual Gulf Coast Fidelity and Surety Institute (May 29 – June 1, 2008).

Contributing Author, Loan Loss Coverage Under Insuring Agreement (A), in Loan Loss Coverage Under Financial Institution Bonds (Gilbert J. Schroeder and John J. Tomaine, eds., ABA 2008).

Co-author, Construction and Surety Law, Annual Survey, 61 SMU Law Review 705 (2008).

Thornburg Insulation, Inc. v. J.W. Terrill, Inc., The Missouri Court of Appeals Correctly Interprets Standard-Form
Commercial Crime Policy Definition of “Occurrence”, Fidelity Law Assoc. Newsletter (Jan./Feb. 2008).

Co-author, Construction and Surety Law, Annual Survey, 60 SMU Law Review 839 (2007).

Co-author, Construction and Surety Law, Annual Survey, 59 SMU Law Review 1079 (2006).

Practice Description

Mr. Carlton’s business and litigation practice currently focuses on providing consultation and representation to insurance carriers and policy-holders in numerous areas of insurance coverage; and defending insurers, self-insureds and third-party administrators against claims of insurance bad faith. He also maintains a commercial litigation practice representing self-insured employers, construction companies, contractors, and other business entities.

Representative Experience

Provided insurance coverage opinions, counsel and representation in disputes and litigation involving commercial general liability, professional liability, commercial property, environmental, workers’ compensation/employers’ liability and commercial umbrella liability policies.

Represented national primary and excess insurance carriers and third-party administrators in high exposure coverage and extra-contractual “bad faith” litigation.

Represented business clients in disputes involving insurance brokers, agents, carriers, third-party administrators, claims representatives and self-insureds.

Defended national construction companies, contractors and professional employer organizations in suits involving alleged construction defects and catastrophic damages and injuries.

Selected Publications, Seminars and Cases

The Challenge of Integrated Data and Information Management when Splitting the Claim File, Insurance Bad Faith & Coverage Conference, Claims & Litigation Management Alliance, New York, New York (2014).

To Split or Not to Split: Avoiding Bad Faith when Defense and Coverage Collide, Annual Conference, Claims & Litigation Management Alliance, Boca Raton, Florida (2014).

Preparing the Company Witness for a Bad Faith Deposition, Insurance and Bad Faith Coverage Conference, Claims & Litigation Management Alliance, Atlanta, Georgia (2014).

Proven Methods to Avoid “Wasting” a Policy When There are Multiple Investigations and Competing Demands, American Conference Institute’s 25th National Advanced Forum on Bad Faith Litigation, San Francisco, CA (2013)

Claim Manuals and Training Materials: How to Address Them During Discovery and Trial, Insurance Bad Faith and Extra-Contractual Liability, DRI, Boston, MA (2013)

Insurance Bad Faith – Getting Lean in Big Litigation: A New Way to Workout, Annual Conference, Claims & Litigation Management Alliance, San Antonio, TX (2013)

SIR’s, Settlement in Excess of Verdicts: When the Finger Pointing Starts, Fraud-Bad Faith-Coverage Conference, Claims & Litigation Management Alliance, Orlando, FL (2013)

Avoiding Bad Faith When Litigating Questionable Coverage: Reservation of Rights, Declaratory Judgement Actions, Partially Covered Claims and Additional Insured Issues, American Conference Institute’s 23rd Annual National Forum on Bad Faith Litigation, Orlando, FL (Nov. 2012)

The Insurer’s Right to Intervene – And other Problems When the Insured Assigns its Bad Faith Claims, Insurance and Bad Faith Coverage Conference, Claims & Litigation Management Alliance, Boston, MA (2012)

Duty of Good Faith: Insurance Claims Practices, Gallhager Basset, Sedgwick, Tri-Star, Travelers, Broadspire (2010)

Shifting the Risks: Selected Avenues of Risk Management in Texas Contractual Relationships, Texas Association of Defense Counsel (2010)

Duty of Good Faith and Fair Dealing: Insurance Claims Practices, Hartford Ins., ESIS (2009)

Fundamentals of Litigation Management, Counsel on Litigation Management (2009)

Case Assessment and Evaluation, Council on Litigation Management (2009)

Duty of Good Faith/Insurance Code Litigation: A Utilization Review Perspective, Hartford Ins. (2009)

Duty of Good Faith/Texas Insurance Code Litigation: Case Development, Hartford Ins. (2008)

Duty of Good Faith and Fair Dealing; A Claims Handling Perspective. Gallagher Basset (2007)

Defending Non-Subscriber Cases, Workers’ Comp Publication Seminar (2006)

Coverage Issues in Nursing Home Claims, DRI Insurance Coverage and Claims Institute (2006)

Twin City Fire Insurance Company v. Davis, 904 S.W.2d 663 (Tex. 1995)

Community Involvement, Affiliations and Memberships

Member, Defense Research Institute (Insurance Law Committee, 2003-present; SIU/Fraud Subcommittee Co-Chair, 2014; Board of Directors, 2014) (Commercial Litigation Committee, 2006-present)

Member, Texas Association of Defense Counsel (Board of Directors, 1999-2005;
Dallas Area Vice-President, 2002-2005)

Member, State Bar of Texas (Tort and Insurance Law Committee)

Member, Risk and Insurance Management Society, Inc. (2010-2012)

Member, Counsel for Litigation Management (Bad Faith Committee, 2009-present; eDiscovery & ESI Committee, 2013-present)

Awards & Honors

AV ® PREEMINENT Martindale-Hubbell rating