M. Katherine Strahan
Partner
Katherine’s practice consists of commercial litigation, with an emphasis on employee welfare and group insurance benefits, as well as managed care litigation.
Katherine has extensive experience in medical, disability, life and AD&D benefits litigation, including defending ERISA claims and insurance bad faith claims. Katherine routinely represents defendants, including insurers, plan administrators, third-party claims administrators and employers, in cases brought in Texas and Oklahoma over group disability, health, life and AD&D benefits. Katherine’s ERISA practice has included written and oral advocacy of the jurisdictional, discovery and standard of review issues that typically arise in such cases, as well as defending administrative benefits decisions on the merits. Katherine also represents managed care entities in cases involving contractual disputes, including managed care agreements and administrative services contracts, allegations of prompt pay violations and common law and statutory misrepresentation claims and business tort claims. As part of that practice, Katherine has several years of experience in written and oral advocacy of the jurisdictional and merits-based issues in those disputes.
Katherine has also represented clients in the federal and state courts of appeal, including preparing the briefing and presenting oral argument. The issues in these appeals have included jurisdictional challenges, contract disputes and the merits of ERISA benefit decisions.
In addition to her ERISA and managed care practice, Katherine has represented clients in toxic tort litigation, public law litigation and commercial disputes.
Representative Experience
- Represented group health insurer in a suit brought to enjoin it from raising premiums based on allegations of defective notice. After an injunction hearing and briefing on the merits, the federal district court denied all relief requested by plaintiff and dismissed the lawsuit.
- Represented a long-term disability plan and its claims administrator in an action against them to recover ERISA disability benefits. The defendants won summary judgment in the district court, and the Fifth Circuit affirmed in a published opinion after briefing and oral argument on the merits.
- Represented an insurance company in an ERISA benefits case brought by a health care provider seeking payment for IVIG treatment. Finding that the defendant did not abuse its discretion in denying payment for the services because they were not “medically necessary” under the health care plan, the federal district court granted summary judgment in the defendant’s favor. The Fifth Circuit affirmed the summary judgment.
- Represented managed care companies in a suit brought against them by a health care provider asserting breach of contract and misrepresentation claims based on alleged verifications of medical coverage. After removal to federal court, the federal district court granted summary judgment in favor of the defendants and dismissed the lawsuit.
- Represented managed care companies in a suit brought against them by insurance agents claiming damages for alleged breach of contract, which involved issues of successor liability and assumptions of obligations in purchase agreements. The state court granted summary judgment in favor of the defendants, and the Texas Sixth Court of Appeals affirmed the summary judgment in a published opinion.
Publications
- The Essentials of E-Discovery (Top Five) Straightline (February 2012)
- Essentials of E-Discovery (pdf) (October 2011)
- Strategies to Mitigate Litigation Costs (October 2011)
Events
- "ERISA Preemption: Successful Strategies Within the Evolving Law," presented at the American Conference Institute's 2nd Advanced Forum on Managed Care Disputes and Litigation (November 8, 2011)
Professional Recognition
- Recognized as a "Future Star" in Texas by Benchmark Litigation (2011)
