Similar personal injury attorneys in Dallas
Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Each case is unique and depends on its own facts.
About Wendell Martens
Wendell P. "Chip" Martens, Jr. has over 25 years of experience litigating products liability, commercial truck wreck, energy sector, and complex commercial cases. He began his consumer advocacy career as co-founder and president of the Public Interest Law Society at his law school and worked for the Center for Auto Safety, the consumer advocacy group founded by Ralph Nader in Washington, D.C. He assisted former NHTSA Administrator Joan Claybrook in preparing for the September 2000 House and Senate hearings on Ford/Firestone, and helped successfully defend Consumers Union, publisher of Consumer Reports, when Isuzu sued over its critical reviews of the Isuzu Trooper. Martens has litigated hundreds of automotive products liability cases, including many of the widely publicized Ford/Firestone cases. He serves on the board of directors of the Attorneys Information Exchange Group and was named a Texas Super Lawyer by Texas Monthly in 2026.
Proven verdicts and settlements at The Law Offices of Frank L. Branson, P.C.
These results are credited to The Law Offices of Frank L. Branson, P.C.. A result appears under an attorney's own name only when a published source names them as counsel on the case.
A Dallas County jury awarded $242.1 million to Benjamin and Kristi Reavis after the front seatbacks of their 2002 Lexus ES 300 collapsed in a rear-end crash and both parents were thrown into their two small children, who suffered permanent brain injuries. Frank L. Branson led the trial team from The Law Offices of Frank L. Branson, which included Debbie Branson. The trial judge reduced the judgment to about $213 million under the Texas punitive damages cap, a divided Dallas appeals court affirmed in 2021, and the case then settled in December 2021 on confidential terms while Toyota's appeal was pending before the Texas Supreme Court.
A Dallas County jury awarded the family of Christopher Ray Vardy $44.1 million after finding New Prime Inc. and its driver, Steven Ridder, responsible for the February 2021 ice-storm pileup that killed him on the Interstate 35W toll lanes near Fort Worth. The verdict included $24.1 million in compensatory damages, apportioned 75 percent to Ridder and 25 percent to toll-road operator NTE Express, plus $20 million in punitive damages against New Prime for recklessly employing an unfit driver. The Law Offices of Frank L. Branson, P.C. represented Vardy's widow, Tamara Vardy, and the firm says John Burkhead, Tim Newsom and Debbie Dudley Branson tried the case. Days after the verdict New Prime moved for a take-nothing judgment, arguing settlement credits and Texas's exemplary-damages cap should erase the award, a motion with no reported ruling as of September 2026.
A Dallas County jury awarded $9.45 million to James Shelton McClure, 74, after he stepped into an unlit, drained fountain basin in the courtyard of Hotel Crescent Court while walking his dog just after midnight on March 6, 2021. McClure and his wife were staying at the hotel because Winter Storm Uri had knocked out power at their own home. The fall broke his ankle, requiring four surgeries and an eventual total ankle replacement, and aggravated a preexisting neck condition that left him with nerve damage in his dominant hand. After a weeklong trial, the jury found the hotel 95 percent responsible and McClure 5 percent responsible. Tim Newsom of The Law Offices of Frank L. Branson, P.C. led the trial team, with Debbie Dudley Branson and Linda Yee Villa. The trial court signed judgment on the verdict in September 2025, and the hotel operators appealed; the appeal is pending.
Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Each case is unique and depends on its own facts.
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Proven verdicts and settlements from other Dallas firms
Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Each case is unique and depends on its own facts.