Prominent Dallas lawyer Lisa Blue Baron has sued Tolleson Wealth Management for its failure to obtain appropriate commercial insurance on her behalf, which she says led to a coverage refusal by two carriers after Al Hill III rekindled a legal spat with Blue this summer.
In a nine-page lawsuit filed last Friday, Blue alleges Dallas-based Tolleson, which served as a family office for Blue’s professional and personal needs, breached their contract when it procured insurance policies with Hartford Lloyds Insurance Company and AIG Property Casualty Company under the name of Blue’s late husband instead of her own name, which led them to deny coverage.
Tolleson, Hartford and AIG did not immediately return messages seeking comment on the lawsuit.
Blue, as she goes by professionally, also names Hartford and AIG in the suit, calling their refusal of coverage breach of contract, “malicious,” “fraudulent” and “grossly negligent.”
The lawsuit says Tolleson persuaded Blue to leave her family’s longtime financial adviser in 2008 after the death of her husband, famed environmental and toxic tort lawyer Fred Baron. Tolleson agreed to provide an array of services for Blue, including evaluating and determining property and casualty insurance needs, both personally and professionally with Blue’s law firm, Baron and Blue.
After collecting that information, Tolleson obtained property and casualty insurance on Blue’s behalf with AIG and Hartford. The lawsuit says Tolleson obtained policies with Hartford that covered commercial general liability insurance, and it obtained homeowner’s and personal excess liability insurance with AIG.
Blue’s relationship with Albert G. Hill III, the son of billionaire oil heir Al Hill Jr., dates back to a decade ago when she represented him in a web of litigation against his father and others in the Hill family involving claims tied to family trusts.
Blue, along with fellow Dallas attorneys Charla Aldous and Steven Malouf — a legal team nicknamed “BAM” in Friday’s suit — obtained a global settlement in the litigation for Hill III.
But then Hill III and BAM got into litigation against each other over legal fees that Hill III refused to pay.
Although BAM has “prevailed on each and every one” of the lawsuits related to fee disputes, Hill III continues to bring them, the lawsuit says.
As recently as August, Hill III filed malicious prosecution claims against Blue in Houston state court after “having more than worn out his welcome in the federal courts,” Blue’s lawsuit says.
When Blue notified Hartford and AIG of the new Hill litigation, they wrongfully denied coverage, according to her lawsuit.
Regarding AIG, the lawsuit claims the insurer encouraged Blue to take time to request other insurers to provide coverage and report back, and in the meantime, AIG “raced to the courthouse to improperly sue her in federal district court in Houston.”
Although Blue’s lawyers, Bobby Rubarts and Neakzaad Horritat of Koning Rubarts, wrote that Blue seeks less than $100,000 from the defendants at this time, “her damages continue to accrue on a daily basis.”
Court documents indicate that the defendants have not been served with the lawsuit yet.