Lyndon F. Bittle
Partner

Business Litigation, Appellate, Insurance

Printable Version

Phone: 214-855-3096
Direct Fax: 214-758-3796
Email: lbittle@ccsb.com
Download V-Card>>

Mr. Bittle leads Carrington Coleman’s insurance practice, which encompasses policy review and advice in addition to litigation matters involving declaratory judgment, contract, and bad faith claims.  His policyholder clients include governmental entities, manufacturers, real estate owners and developers, insurance brokers, and individuals. 

Significant insurance disputes resulting in published opinions are described below under “Representative Matters.”  Mr. Bittle is currently defending a motorcycle manufacturer in a federal declaratory judgment action in which the client’s liability insurer seeks to avoid coverage and defense obligations because of alleged late notice of the underlying claim.  Other ongoing representations in coverage matters, which do not currently involve litigation, include:

Advising property owner concerning the rights and obligations of the parties under an OCIP (Owner Controlled Insurance Program) developed in conjunction with a major construction project involving multiple design professionals and construction contractors.

Advising real estate developer concerning contract , indemnity, and coverage issues arising in connection with Builders Risk policies following destruction by fire of an apartment complex shortly before construction was completed. 

Provided written opinion letter to governmental construction contractor analyzing asserted indemnity obligations and coverage issues arising from personal injuries alleged by subcontractor’s employee. 

Mr. Bittle represents businesses and individuals in lawsuits and appeals concerning business governance and fiduciary obligations, claims of “shareholder oppression,” competition, and product manufacturing or construction-related liability. 

Mr. Bittle also represents local governments and officials in matters involving aviation law, environmental regulation, intergovernmental relations, insurance coverage, and sovereign or official immunity.  For example, besides the “Love Field” cases listed below as representative matters, he represented the City of Dallas in its successful post-judgment effort to modify a federal court injunction concerning two unregulated landfills near the Trinity River, which ultimately resulted in construction of the new Trinity River Audubon Center.

Mr. Bittle handles cases from their inception through final disposition, whether by summary judgment, trial, appeal, or settlement. As a member of the firm’s appellate practice group, he regularly assists other attorneys with preparation of or challenges to expert testimony, dispositive motions, jury submissions, and appeals. He has presented oral argument to the federal Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, and to state appellate courts in Austin, Dallas, Eastland, Fort Worth, San Antonio, and Waco.

Before embarking on his legal career, Mr. Bittle owned and managed small businesses, including Sacramento California’s first natural food restaurant.

“We look at every client and situation with fresh eyes - with experience, of course, but we never assume it’s just like the last one.  This makes us adept at seeing things that might slip through the cracks at a firm with solid walls between practice areas.”

Representative Matters

Represented the City of Dallas in parallel state and federal litigation that clarified the complex relationships between federal, state, and municipal authorities in connection with air traffic at Dallas Love Field Airport:

• American Airlines, Inc. v. DOT, 202 F.3d 788 (5th Cir. 2000).
• Legend Airlines, Inc. v. City of Fort Worth, 23 S.W.3d 83 (Tex. App.-Fort Worth 2000, no pet.).

Represented policyholders in the following matters that resulted in published opinions:

• Kirby Co. v. Hartford Cas. Ins. Co., 2004 WL 216537 (N.D. Tex. Sept. 23, 2004) (insurer’s unreasonable delay in tendering defense breached policy and triggered additional insured’s right to select and control independent counsel).
• Mid-Continent Cas. Co. v. Safe Tire Disp. Co., 16 S.W.3d 418 (Tex. App.-Waco 2000, pet. denied) (pollution exclusion did not bar coverage of damage caused by fire at tire recycling plant).
• Int'l Ins. Co. v. Dresser Indus., Inc., 841 S.W.2d 437 (Tex. App.-Dallas 1992, writ denied) (manufacturer that retained control of liability litigation did not owe settlement obligation to excess insurer).

Education

University of California, Berkeley,
Boalt Hall School of Law, J.D., 1988
Senior Executive Editor, 1987-88,
California Law Review
Associate Editor, 1986-87,
Industrial Relations Law Journal
Order of the Coif

University of California, Santa Barbara
B.A., 1971

Admittances

Texas 1988

U.S. District Courts for the Northern, Southern, Eastern, and Western Districts of Texas

U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin

U.S. Court of Federal Claims

U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and Federal Circuit

Associations/Affiliations

Texas Bar Foundation: Fellow

American Bar Association Sections: Tort Trial & Insurance Practice (Vice-Chair, Ins. Coverage Litig. Comm.), Litigation.

State Bar of Texas Sections: Appellate, Insurance, Litigation.

Dallas Bar Association Sections: Tort and Insurance Practice, Appellate Law.

Bar Association of the Fifth Federal Court.

Dallas Theater Center: Board of Trustees.

Speeches/Publications

Author, D&O Insurance When the Company Goes Broke, Dallas Bar Association, Headnotes, Vol. 34, No. 8, August 2010.

What Every Young Lawyer Should Know About Depositions, DAYL Lunch and Learn Panelist (May 2010).

Wrap It Up, I’ll Take It?  Advantages and Risks of OCIP Policies, TIPS-ICLC Mid-Year Program Panel Moderator (February 2010).

OCIP and Professional Liability:  Where the Policyholder Is Not the Insured, TIPS-ICLC Mid-Year Program Paper (February 2010).

A Late Notice Must Be Prejudicial to Deny Coverage, Dallas Bar Ass’n Headnotes.

Texas Supreme Court Contributes to the Evolution of the Notice-Prejudice Rule as Applied to Claims-Made Policies, TIPS-ICLC Newsletter (Summer 2009).

Expert Objections portion of Appellate Lawyers at Trial, Before You Think You Need Them, panel presentation to the Dallas Bar Ass'n Solo and Small Firm Section (July 2009) and Kaufman County Bar Ass'n (October 2009).

Effective Use of Witnesses and Exhibits, Institute for Paralegal Education Seminar, A Litigation Paralegal’s Guide to Case Management (June 2009).

From Dump to Diamond: History of the Trinity River Audubon Center, presentation at the Center (June 2009).

Tensions: Pleading for Liability and Pleading for Coverage, Dallas Bar Ass'n Headnotes (December 2008).

An Overview of Insurance Coverage Disputes, National Business Institute, Insurance Coverage Litigation Seminar (August 2008).

Co-Author, Are D&O Policies At Risk of Climate Change?, TIPS-ICLC Newsletter (Summer 2008).

Severability Clauses:  Protecting Policyholders From Rescission, Dallas Bar Ass’n Headnotes (December 2007).

Emerging Issues Raised by Derivative Shareholder Actions Involving Foreign Corporations Headquartered in Texas: Making Sense of the Interaction Between Texas Procedures and Substantive Law, 39 Tex. Tech. L. Rev. 1 (2006) (Awarded Outstanding Lead Article).

Protecting White Hats from the Sins of Dark Hats: The Effect of Severability Clauses on Policy Rescission and Coverage Exclusions, TIPS-ICLC Mid-Year Program (February 2007).

Contributing Editor, CGL Reporter, Int'l Risk Management Institute (2005-2009).

Punitive Damages and the Eighth Amendment: An Analytical Framework for Determining Excessiveness, 75 Cal. L. Rev. 1433 (1987).