Michael Patrick Doyle

Michael Patrick Doyle
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Mike’s trial practice includes the representation of plaintiffs in maritime personal injury, international and trans-national personal injury, including work and holiday injury claims, and insurance bad faith.

Mike is Board Certified in Personal Injury Trial Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization and is a Fellow in the National College of Advocacy of the American Association for Justice. Mike has obtained many multi-million dollar verdicts, judgments, and settlements. These results include a jury verdict in 2004 of $2.56 million for a Jones Act seaman injured in the Gulf of Alaska (Reduced on appeal to $2,141,716.75 – Attorneys Fees: $936,772.52; Expenses: $77,625.97; injury – unoperated cervical herniation and leg lacerations); a jury verdict in 2006 of $4.3 million in an insurance bad faith case (case is on appeal; no recovery achieved to date; injury – cervical spine and nerve injuries resulting from delay in payments of insurance); a jury verdict in 2007 of over $1.5 million increased to $1,752,767.44 with interest for a boat captain injured offshore Angola (Attorneys Feees: $788,745.35; Expenses $49,603.52; injury – unoperated spinal injuries and post traumatic stress disorder); a jury verdict in 2008 of $2.16 million for a passenger in a helicopter crash landing in the Gulf of Mexico (Attorneys Fees: $820,000; Expenses: $117,502.70; injury – lumbar injuries requiring surgery and post traumatic stress disorder); a jury verdict in 2008 of $1.6 million for a seismic operator injured in the Gulf of Mexico Jury (Attorneys Fees: $472,500; Expenses $61,135.03; injury – cervical injuries requiring surgery and unoperated shoulder injuries); a jury verdict in 2009 of $4.5 million for a marine mooring master injured in a personnel basket transfer in the Gulf of Mexico (Attorneys Fees: $1,860,000; Expenses: $105,452.29; injury – operated knee and lumbar injuries); and a verdict of $1.22 million for a leverman onboard a dredge vessel working near Memphis, Tennessee in 2009 (Attorneys’ Fees: $400,000; Litigation Expenses: $47,276.54; injuries – operated lumbar spine injuries).

Mike’s personal injury practice includes the representation of Jones Act and foreign seaman in disputes arising in U.S. waters and around the world. He also represents a number of U.K. residents injured in the U.S. on holiday, as well as working people from various countries who have been injured as a result of the actions of multinational companies.

Mike’s insurance bad faith practice includes the representation of workers’ compensation claimants who have had their claims delayed and denied by their insurers and adjusters. In addition, Mike has represented insureds and policy holders against domestic liability and excess insurers, and in transnational coverage disputes against U.K. and E.U. underwriters and company market insurers.

Biography
Mike obtained a B.A. in History at the University of Virginia and a J.D. from the University Of Texas School Of Law. Mike has also completed coursework in marine insurance, international law, and maritime law at the University of London, St. Mary’s College of Law. Mike first practiced at Vinson & Elkins in Houston, then at Cook, Doyle & Bradshaw and The Doyle Law Firm, before forming Doyle Raizner LLP. Mike was admitted to the Texas Bar in 1990.

Community Activities
Mike also is an active leader in civic and community activities. He served as President of the Houston Trial Lawyers Association from 2007-2008, and he has been a member of the Board of Directors since 1999 and Chair of the Judicial Affairs Committee. He served as a member of the Board of Directors of Strake Jesuit College Preparatory School from 2002 to 2004; President of the Strake Jesuit Alumni Association, 2002-2004; and 1998 Alumni Fund Drive Chairman. Mike also served as a member of the Houston Advisory Board of the AFL-CIO Community Fund, the labor community’s charity arm.

Selected Recent Publications, Presentations, and Honors:

“Critical Thinking and Building Your Case from the Ground Up”, Nonverbals, Anchoring and Framing, American Association for Justice, 2011 Winter Convention, Miami, Florida, February 8, 2011

“Maritime Personal Injury”; Seaman’s Remedies, Defenses, and Procedural Issues,  Houston, Texas, February 1, 2011

Insurance Update and Bad Faith Litigation, Michael Doyle, Jeff Raizner and Chris Martin, Harris County Judicial Education Conference, Houston, Texas, August 9, 2010

Michael P. Doyle and Darryl Silvera, Directing, Crossing and Challenging Experts, State Bar of Texas Sixth Annual Advanced Workers’ Compensation Course 2009, Austin, Texas, August 13-14, 2009

Michael P. Doyle, “The Current State of the US Legal Market”, Legal & Medical Conference 2009 (UK), Royal College of Medicine, London, April 2, 2009

Michael P. Doyle, American Association for Justice (AAJ) Mid-Winter Convention, “Cross-Examination of Experts”, San Juan, PR, January 2008

Michael P. Doyle, American Association for Justice (AAJ) Annual Convention, “Direct Examination”, Chicago, July 2007

Faculty member & Speaker, Association of Trial Lawyers of America (now American Association for Justice (AAJ) National College on “Depositions”, Cleveland, October 2006; Atlanta 2008

Wyoming Trial Lawyers Association, 2006 Annual Convention, “Champions of Justice”, Winning the Impossible Case”, Cody, June 2006

TTLA Admiralty Update, Texas Trial Lawyers Association (TTLA), Advanced Personal Injury Update, Houston, May 2006

Faculty member & Speaker, Association of Trial Lawyers of America (ATLA) National College on “Essentials of Civil Litigation”, Tuscaloosa, March 2006

Sequencing, Point of View, and Other Ways to Make your Case from the Start, Kansas Trial Lawyer Association Annual Crown Center Meeting, December 2004

Michael P. Doyle and Jeffrey L. Raizner, “Winning the Battle of the Atlantic,” Association of Personal Injury Lawyers Newsletter (UK), Vol. 13, Issue 3, June 2003

Professional Associations and Recognitions:
Texas Trial Lawyers Association, Board of Directors and Executive Committee
American Association for Justice
Houston Trial Lawyers Association
Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (UK)
Super Lawyers, a Thomson Reuters business, 2005 – 2011
Best Lawyers in America, 2009
Best Lawyer (Personal Injury Litigation) 2009 – 2011
Best Lawyer (Transportation Law)  2010, 2011