© 2015 The Texas Lawbook.
By Brooks Igo
(May 5) – Two former Austin-based Winstead shareholders will announce later today the launching of their new boutique law firm.
Trek Doyle and Karl Seelbach are forming Doyle Seelbach PLLC, where they will handle a mix of commercial litigation, personal injury and property damage litigation.
Doyle says he believes the move will help them be more competitive and generate more business. One big factor for the two lawyers in deciding to start their own firm was the ability to take more control of overhead costs.
“There are rate pressures beyond our control at a big law firm when you are doing litigation,” Seelbach said.
Two of Doyle and Seelbach’s biggest clients are Albertsons Safeway and Pier 1 Imports. They have represented Albertsons for more than 10 years in employee injury cases statewide, and they have handled general liability claims for Pier 1 for the last three years.
Seelbach emphasizes that their practice is statewide, ranging from El Paso to East Texas.
One area they are keeping an eye on in their practice is developments relating to nonsubscribers.
Historically, Texas has been the only state where employers don’t have to pay a premium to be a part of the state’s workers’ compensation plan.
But Seelbach says there has been a growing trend in which other states have been looking at the benefits of nonsubscription because of the cost savings associated with it. Oklahoma passed a law in 2013 giving employers the opportunity to opt out of the state’s statutory workers’ compensation system and a major Tennessee Senate committee is considering a Tennessee Option.
In Texas, roughly one-third of employers are nonsubscribers, Doyle says. As an alternative to the state’s workers’ compensation plan, he says most sophisticated nonsubscribers have an ERISA plan which enables them to provide benefits and manage risk.
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