Business Litigation; Insurance Litigation

Ms. Davenport joined Figari & Davenport in 1992. While she has handled a variety of commercial and real estate cases, a primary focus for Ms. Davenport has been defending some of the firm’s largest clients on first-party disability and title insurance cases. Most of her cases are in federal court, where “rocket docket” settings require her to efficiently handle discovery and motion practice. She has extensive experience in federal procedure and has participated in preparing and trying a number of federal court jury trials. Her ability to grasp, analyze, and simplify complex legal issues, coupled with a direct and persuasive writing style, unusual attention to detail, and a high energy level, have enabled her to obtain consistently positive results for the firm’s clients.

• Ms. Davenport helped to successfully try an insurance fraud suit in federal court in Lubbock, Texas, where the insured had amassed millions of dollars of disability insurance coverage with numerous insurance companies, none of which knew of the others’ policies, and submitted a false claim.
• Ms. Davenport obtained a favorable settlement in a case filed in federal court in Houston by an insurance company to rescind a one million dollar life insurance policy it had issued to a prostitute in Houston, who was murdered by an unknown assailant several months after the policy was issued.
• Ms. Davenport obtained summary judgment in a multi-million dollar federal court case in New Mexico, where developers had purchased a federal “in-holding” in the Sandia Wilderness Area, which they later sold for a large profit to a neighboring Indian tribe. The summary judgment clarified the scope of access coverage under a title insurance policy and was a major win for the industry.
• Ms. Davenport led the defense team in a multi-defendant class action filed against the County Commissioners of Galveston County, Texas, the life insurance company that issued coverage for County employees, and others, where she prevailed on summary judgment and defeated class claims based on alleged improprieties in the demutualization of the life insurance company.

JD, University of Tennessee, summa cum laude, 1992

• Order of the Coif
• Articles Editor, Tennessee Law Review, 1991- 1992

BS, University of Tennessee, highest honors, 1989

Named a Texas Rising Star(Texas Monthly, 2007)

• State Bar of Texas
• Dallas Bar Association
• Fifth Circuit Bar Association
• Fellow, Dallas Bar Foundation