McDowell Hetherington recently obtained total victory for its client, a leading life-insurance company, in a unanimous arbitration award. An insurance broker sued the life insurer alleging that the insurer conveyed to him inaccurate tax advice about a customer’s annuity, which he then relayed to his client. Claimant also asserted that the life insurer improperly disclosed information regarding the customer to another producer, who used that information to “steal” the customer from the producer. The Claimant sought $1.5 million in actual damages, as well as punitive damages, attorneys’ fees, and costs. After a multi-day evidentiary hearing, a panel of three distinguished Houston attorneys, including a former judge, rejected Claimant’s allegations in their entirety. In vindicating the life insurer, the Panel found that McDowell Hetherington’s client had correctly communicated the tax issues to the producer on multiple occasions and that it had not disclosed confidential or sensitive information regarding the client to any third party. The panel awarded MH’s life-insurance client over $42,000 in arbitration costs.

David McDowell arbitrated the case with the help of lawyers Avi Moshenberg and Emil Sadykhov and paralegal Kate Taylor.