Rene M. Sigman

René M. Sigman is currently Of Counsel to Williams Hart & Boundas, LLP law firm in Houston, where she oversees its insurance practice and is revered as one of the pioneers of first-party practice on the policyholder side. She began her career in 2002 and quickly excelled as a policyholder attorney, recovering millions of dollars for her clients over the years.

She is licensed in TX, CO, and NY and has personally handled thousands of first-party litigation cases against insurance carriers over the last 20+ years. Over her career, she has represented all types of policyholders, including school districts, municipalities, churches, residential, and commercial businesses, on their insurance claims. Additionally, Ms. Sigman is one of the first attorneys to have successfully tried a first-party hurricane lawsuit in Texas. Her trials have also included Breach of Contract, First-Party Bad Faith, and UIM cases against insurance companies, including USAA and the Texas Windstorm Association.

She was also one of the youngest attorneys ever appointed as a liaison on first-party insurance claims in Texas. At the age of thirty-one, she was appointed in multiple counties throughout Texas to serve as Plaintiffs’ Liaison on Hurricane Ike property damage claims from 2009 to 2014. Her knowledge and understanding of the Texas Insurance Code and laws governing insurance disputes have been instrumental in her success as the policyholder’s advocate.

There is no question among her peers and clients that Ms. Sigman is known for her tenacity, dedication, and unbeatable work ethic in handling every case she touches. She holds her clients’ best interests at heart, and her passion for bringing justice to her clients has earned her many accolades and awards within her field and among her peers. The cases entrusted to her have generated hundreds of millions of dollars in recovery and settlements, and she has extensive experience in handling all facets of discovery, including depositions, hearings, and trials. Over the last decade, her work ethic and respect in the industry have led to several leadership roles and/or appointments in various counties in Texas, including the following matters:

• Plaintiffs’ Co-Liaison Counsel on behalf of Plaintiffs for the consolidated Hurricane Ike Litigation in Harris County, Texas; In Re: Hurricane Ike Residential Property Claim Litigation, 2009-23570.
• Plaintiffs’ MDL Liaison Counsel on behalf of Plaintiffs for Geovara Multi-District Hurricane Ike Litigation in Harris County, Texas; In Re MDL 13 (Hurricane): Geovara Specialty Insurance Company v. Master File, 2012-38535, Geovara MDL Order (Aug. 03, 2012).
• Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee Counsel on behalf of Plaintiffs for In Re State Farm Lloyds MDL 13, 2012-38530.
• Plaintiffs’ Co-Liaison Counsel for In Re: Ike Litigation for Hurricane Ike in Galveston County, Texas; In Re: Ike Litigation Residential and Commercial Property Claims, 09-CV-0147.

During her appointments to leadership, she was entrusted with negotiating, drafting, meeting, and conferring on Hurricane Ike Litigation on behalf of the Plaintiffs’ bar. In the above matters, she met with opposing counsel and the courts to establish procedures and protocols for handling thousands of catastrophic weather-related lawsuits from the beginning of litigation through trial. The case management orders issued during this process served as the foundation for years to come for various MDLs, including the Hidalgo County 2012 hailstorm MDL, the Farmers MDL, the State Farm MDL, and other consolidated matters throughout Texas and beyond. Most recently, in 2022, Ms. Sigman created a second set of master discovery in the Farmers’ MDL concerning Hail claims in Texas, specific to “Marring” and the discovery on residential and commercial insurance policies containing marring provisions. This discovery is being used throughout Texas on all hailstorm claims concerning a defense of “marring” on Farmers Insurance hail claims.

In addition to her service as Plaintiffs’ liaison counsel on multiple litigation fronts, Ms. Sigman was also the Lead Attorney who took the two-day deposition of the top wind expert for the Texas Windstorm Association concerning Bolivar Island Hurricane Ike claims. This resulted in TWIA paying hundreds of millions of dollars to resolve those claims and led to the replacement of top Texas Windstorm officers.

Additionally, in 2014, René assisted as an attorney on Hurricane Sandy-related cases. She handled several evidentiary hearings concerning allegations that engineering reports were altered by flood carriers, such as Wright National Flood Insurance, and their hired experts, to deny claims for Sandy victims. Most notably, in October 2014, in the United States Eastern District Court of New York, Ms. Sigman cross-examined U.S. Forensic executive Michael Garove in an evidentiary hearing regarding the alteration of engineering reports. Under cross-examination by Ms. Sigman, the Defendant’s witness, Michael Garove, testified that he routinely altered third-party engineer reports and their conclusions as standard practice, procedure, and protocol.

This testimony changed the trajectory of the Sandy cases for years to come and facilitated the settlement of the entire Sandy docket for multiple Plaintiff law firms through a neutral review process created by FEMA in response to evidence obtained by Ms. Sigman at that hearing. The In Re Hurricane Sandy Orders were changed as a result of this testimony to require Defendant insurers to produce all drafts, originals, and red-lined versions of engineer reports for Sandy litigation. Her work on behalf of the policyholder for Hurricane Sandy ultimately led to investigations by government agencies into the alleged fraud and the alteration of engineering reports by the insurance industry experts and affiliates.

Ms. Sigman is nationally recognized for her experience in representing policyholders against their insurance carriers. She has been consistently named to Texas Super Lawyer lists from 2011 to the present—an achievement earned through her dedication to her clients’ causes and recognition among her peers for outstanding results in consumer protection and insurance.