Rene M. Sigman OF COUNSEL
Rene M. Sigman is “Of Counsel” to Williams Hart Boundas LLP in Houston, Texas. She has been exclusively representing policyholders against their insurance carriers for over 20 years here in Texas. Her career began at Mostyn Law Firm in 2001 working exclusively on first-party insurance claims for 16 years. She then continued her career at Merlin Law Group where she was the Regional Litigation Manager in Texas. Her tenacity and dedication to the policyholder is at the core of everything she does.
She is revered as one of the pioneers in first party insurance litigation and started her career litigating foundation, mold, and plumbing leak claims. She has also handled tens of thousands of weather-related claims such as Hurricane Rita, Hurricane Dolly, Hurricane Ike, Hurricane Sandy (NY), Hurricane Harvey, and various hail litigation throughout Texas and beyond.
She was instrumental in exposing engineering fraud in the federal courts of New York regarding Wright Flood and Hurricane Sandy cases, by cross- examining the adjuster who revised the reports internally, which lead to the opening of thousands of closed Sandy cases and production of all draft engineer reports by carriers in the Sandy litigation.
She has also been consistently appointed to numerous leadership committees involving property insurance litigation in various counties throughout her career and was appointed Plaintiff liaison for Hurricane Ike litigation in Harris County and surrounding counties by various Courts. Additionally, she is skilled in Multi-district litigation of hailstorms, including the Farmer’s MDL and other specific carrier related litigation.
She was the only plaintiff attorney in Texas appointed to 2 National Discovery protocol committees by Chief Justice Rosenthal of the Southern District of Texas. She is also one of the first attorneys to obtain a verdict for both a residential Hurricane Ike claim, and a municipality claim, against well-known carriers in Texas. She has been selected to Texas Super Lawyer lists consecutively since 2011 and has been featured on several Television news stories as a legal commentator on issues concerning policyholders. She also serves as an expert on claims handling and bad faith as well as attorneys fees.
She is licensed in all the federal districts in Texas as well as the United States Federal Claims Court. She is also licensed in Colorado, and New York. Her 20 plus years of dedication to championing the rights of policyholders in Texas against their insurance carriers is unparalleled.
Education
- South Texas College of Law, Juris Doctorate, 2002
- Dean’s Outstanding Advocate Award, 2002
- “Best Advocate” award & Semi-finalist in the National White-Collar Criminal Mock Trial
- Regional Semi-finalist at the National Trial Competition, 2001
- “Best Team” & “Best Appellate Brief” awards at the Texas Young Lawyers Association State Moot Court Championship Competition, 2001
- Order of the Barristers Honor Society for Exceptional Trial Advocacy
- Texas A&M University, Bachelor of Business Administration in Business Management, 1999
- Collegiate Swimmer
Practice Areas
- Insurance Attorney
Bar Admissions
- Texas, 2002
- Colorado, 2019
- New York, 2014
Professional Awards
- Texas Children’s Hospital, Family Advisor, 2017 – present
- Be The Match Foundation, Board Member, 2018 – 2023
Professional Awards & Honors
- Texas Super Lawyers, 2016 – 2023
- Texas Super Lawyers Rising Stars, 2011 – 2016
Representative Matters / Case Results
- Ms. Sigman was the Lead Attorney who took the two-day deposition of the top wind expert for Texas Windstorm Association concerning Bolivar Island Hurricane Ike claims that resulted in TWIA paying hundreds of millions of dollars to resolve those claims and the replacement of top Texas Windstorm officers.
- In 2014, Rene assisted as an attorney on cases involving Hurricane Sandy. Her efforts changed the projection of the Sandy cases for years to come and facilitated the settlement of the entire Sandy docket for multiple Plaintiff law firms. In addition, her work on behalf of the policyholder for Hurricane Sandy ultimately led to investigations by government agencies into the alleged Fraud and the altering of engineering reports by the insurance industry experts and affiliates.