Steven O. Grubbs

Biography

Mr. Grubbs is a member of the firm's insurance litigation, transportation litigation and labor and employment law sections.  He has considerable first-chair trial experience in State and Federal Court, and arbitrated matters.  He has prepared briefing and conducted oral arguments before several Texas Courts of Appeals and to the Texas Supreme Court.

He is Board Certified in Labor and Employment Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization.

Education

South Texas College of Law (J.D., 1996)
University of Texas at Austin (B.B.A., 1992)

Legal Memberships

• State Bar of Texas
• Houston Bar Association
• American Health Lawyers Association
• Texas Surplus Lines Association
• Independent Insurance Agents of Houston
• Texas Funeral Directors' Association
• Texas Association of Responsible Nonsubscribers
• Texas Alliance of Nonsubscribers

Honors and Awards

• Board Certified in Labor and Employment Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization
• Recipient American Jurisprudence Awards - 1995, 1996
• Outstanding Advocate Awards - 1995, 1996
• Intramural Mock Trial Champion
• Interscholastic Mock Trial Team

Admissions

• State Bar of Texas
• United States District Courts for the Southern District of Texas
• United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit

Practice Areas and Casework

Practice Areas

• Insurance Litigation
• Transportation Law
• Labor and Employment Litigation

Casework

Insurance Litigation:

• Manage large dockets of first party property lawsuits arising out of large scale CAT events such as hurricanes, hail storms and other adverse weather phenomenon.
• Defend several auto carriers from UM/UIM first party exposure.
• Represent a wide variety of industries from first and third party claims alleging premises liability, negligence, gross negligence, products liability, slips and falls, auto/transportation liability, DTPA, and intentional tort claims.
• Handles first and third party property and casualty, employment, trucking/cargo and general liability claims for Certain Underwriters at Lloyd's of London.  Familiar with the London market and the underwriting/brokerage process at Lloyd's.
• Defend construction companies from large scale construction defect claims with multimillion dollar exposure.

Transportation Law:

• Regularly defend large regional carrier from liability and cargo claims involving food products.
• Represent a large variety of trucking insurers and their insureds from first and third party claims involving transportation liability.
• Manage large scale, on-scene investigations of catastrophic events including fatality and multiple injury accidents.
• Defend hazardous waste hauler from enviornmental and spill claims.

Labor/Employment Litigation:

• Manage large litigation docket of employers' liability for gross negligence lawsuits concerning workplace safety/health and employee fatality claims arising under Tex. Labor Code, Sec. 408.001(b) in state and federal courts.
• Represented industrial employers during OSHA--DOL inspections and litigation from the initial inspection through formal hearings and appeals to the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.
• Regularly defend nonsubscribing Texas corporations from claims alleging injuries and fatalities to employees.  Frequent lecturer on nonsubscriber law in Texas.
• Advised numerous funeral directors, funeral homes and cemeteries in labor and employment matters including EEOC and wage/hour/overtime (FLSA) matters.
• Assisted employers drafting and enforcing non-compete agreements, trade secret protection agreements and arbitration/alternative dispute resolution plans.  Provided on-site training and advice on issues of 'at-will' employment, Texas Workers Compensation Act, drug testing in the workplace, ADA, PDA, EPA, ADEA, new FLSA, Title VII and USERRA.
• Successfully defended employers from EEOC and Texas Workforce Commission Civil Rights Division claims for alleged violations of Title VII including race/age/gender discrimination, wrongful termination and retaliation claims and defended employers from subsequent civil litigation alleging same.
• Litigated to successful conclusions several common law claims asserted against employers including theft of trade secrets, breach of employment agreement, wrongful termination, confidentiality agreement breaches, claimed noncompete agreement violations and retaliation for filing for workers' compensation claims.

Publications and Seminar Presentations

• OSHA in Healthcare -- What to Do if OSHA Knocks at Your Door, American Health Lawyers Association -- Labor and Employment Practice Section (Fall 2005, Vol. 4, Issue 3).
• A Funeral Directors Guide: Filing a Late Certificate of Death -- The Texas Director (September 2006.)
• The "New" FLSA Regulations:  Are Licensed Funeral Directors and Embalmers Exempt? -- The Texas Director (January 2007).
• Co-authored, What to Expect and What to Do When OSHA Comes Knocking, in Enterprise Risk Management Handbook for Healthcare Entities Chp. 12 (1st ed. 2009).
• Co-authored, Undertanding and Managing OSHA from Inspection to Citation to Litigation, in Enterprise Risk Management Handbook for Healthcare Entities 583 (2nd ed. 2012).

To see articles click here.

Lectures Presented:

• The Basey Case -- Get Going Before it Gets Tough -- Presented to Texas Mutual Insurance Company (2000).
• OSHA's New Multi-Employer Worksite Directive -- Presented to Texas Mutual Insurance Company (2001).
• FLSA Compliance for Small Business -- Captive lecture to small surgery center HR department (2004).
• Selected Topics in Ethics for the Texas Insurance Adjuster -- Presented to various insurance carriers and their TPA's throughout the country (2006).
• OSHA Inspections:  Preparations and Actions for Nonsubscribing Employers -- presented to the Texas Association of Responsible Nonsubscribing Employers (TXANS) at their Annual Conference in Austin, Texas (2006).
• Employment Law Basics -- Presented to the Houston Claims Association (2006).
• The Top 5 Liability Issues Facing the Texas Funeral Director Today -- Presented to the Texas Funeral Director's Association (Summer 2006).
• Being Cute can Get Ugly:  Home Care and the FLSA -- Presented to the Texas Association for Home Care (2007).
• Arbitration for the Texas Nonsubscriber (Panelist) -- Presented to the Texas Association of Responsible Nonsubscribing Employers (TXANS) at their Annual Conference in Austin, Texas (2007).
• General Contractor/Subcontractor Liability Under Redlinger and its Progeny -- Presented at the Blakeman and Associates Annual Employment Law Conference (2008).
• Trucking Litigation and DOT Regs for the Carrier -- Presented at the 2008 Risk Management Seminar for the Insurance Network of Texas (2008).

Notable Decisions:

• Carruth v. SCI Texas Funeral Services, Inc., 221 S.W.3d 134 (Tex. App. -- Houston [1st Dist.] 2006, reh'g overruled, July 20, 2006).  (Upholding summary judgment for funeral home arising from a lawsuit brought by an ex-husband of a decedent for a funeral home's failure to follow his burial instructions over the decedent's daughter.)
• Creel v. Martinez, 176 S.W.3d 516 (Tex. App. -- Houston [1st Dist.] 2004, writ denied) (Following trial to jury, obtained judgment for client on appeal.)

Community Service:

• Appointed by the Mayor and City Council for the City of Bellaire, Texas to serve as a member of the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board where he currently serves as its Vice President.
• Appointed by the President of the Texas Funeral Directors' Association to serve as a member of the TFDA Ethics Committee.