Donnie Mike Apodaca, II

Member

Donnie focuses his practice on insurance coverage and complex litigation. He has substantial experience in multi-party litigation in state and federal courts. He has handled actions involving claims for breach of contract and warranty, indemnity, violations of consumer protection statutes, fraud, bad faith, and business torts.

Donnie regularly defends insurance carriers and adjusters in first-party insurance disputes and bad faith litigation. He also advises clients on insurance policy interpretation and appraisal process.

Additionally, Donnie has represented individuals and clients in business litigation, catastrophic injury cases, and product liability actions. He has experience in discovery-heavy litigation, including class action and multi-district litigation. He has managed e-discovery projects, implemented procedures for collecting and producing electronically stored information, and drafted e-discovery protocols.

Donnie earned his law degree cum laude from SMU Dedman School of Law. During law school, he was a legal intern at the Innocence Project of Texas and a member of the Phi Alpha Delta legal fraternity. He received his bachelor's degree in finance with honors from New Mexico State University. At New Mexico University, Donnie served as a member of the student Senate.

Experience

News

More Than 200 Cozen O’Connor Attorneys Named Best Lawyers and Ones to Watch

August 22, 2022

210 Cozen O’Connor lawyers from 24 of the firm’s nationwide offices for inclusion in the 2023 edition of The Best Lawyers in America.

More Than 205 Cozen O’Connor Attorneys Named Best Lawyers and Ones to Watch By The Best Lawyers In America

August 19, 2021

Best Lawyers selected 210 Cozen O’Connor lawyers from 23 of the firm’s nationwide offices for inclusion in the 2022 edition of The Best Lawyers in America.

Cozen O’Connor Promotes 15 Attorneys to Member

March 25, 2021

Cozen O'Connor promoted 15 attorneys to member: Donnie Apodaca, Brian Burack, Jason Cabrera, Kristina Cherevas, Jonathan Gale, Matthew Glavin, Yehudah Gordon, Max Kaplan, Jason Kreps, Anna Will Kentz, Daniel Levine, Peter Lim, Matthew Policastro Laura Reinhart, and Danielle Sapega.

More Than 200 Cozen O’Connor Attorneys Named Best Lawyers and Ones to Watch By The Best Lawyers In America

August 20, 2020

Best Lawyers selected 201 Cozen O’Connor lawyers from 23 of the firm’s nationwide offices for inclusion in the 2021 edition of The Best Lawyers in America© (Copyright 2020 by Woodward/White, Inc., of Aiken, SC).

Publications

Texas Court of Appeals Adds Confusion to Post-Appraisal Litigation Under the TPPCA [Property Insurance Law Observer Blog]

August 30, 2022

Ever since the Texas Supreme Court changed the landscape of Texas law regarding appraisal in Barbara Technologies Corp. v. State Farm Lloyds, 589 S.W.3d 806 (Tex. 2019) and Ortiz v. State Farm Lloyds, 589 S.W.3d 127 (Tex. 2019), practitioners and courts have been struggling to apply the Texas...

Texas Supreme Court Axes Policyholder’s Attempt to Expand Insurer Tort Liability [Avoiding Insurance Bad Faith Blog]

June 28, 2022

In Elephant Insurance Co., LLC v. Kenyon, the Supreme Court of Texas reiterated the framework of an insurer’s common-law duties to insureds under Texas law.[1] In applying that framework to the facts of the case, the Court rejected an attempt to expand an insurer’s obligations under existing...

New Statute May Spell Trouble for New Jersey Insurers [Avoiding Insurance Bad Faith Blog]

January 26, 2022

On January 19, 2022, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy signed S.B. 1559, known as the “New Jersey Insurance Fair Conduct Act,” which allows motorists to sue their insurance companies over “unreasonably” late or denied coverage benefits and unfair settlement practices. The bill, passing through both...

Business Interruption Insurance: Post-Pandemic Litigation Developments [Practical Guide]

January 18, 2022

Donnie Apodaca contributed a practice note in LexisNexis Practical Guide.

Federal Court Holds that the Voluntary Payment of an Appraisal Award Plus Penalty Interest Defeats TPPCA Claims Under Texas Law [Property Insurance Law Observer Blog]

November 15, 2021

In 2019, the Supreme Court of Texas issued a pair of decisions that allowed policyholders to prosecute claims under the Texas Prompt Payment of Claims Act (“TPPCA”) even after the insurers paid appraisal awards. The decisions were a modification of law and so post-appraisal litigation has and...

The Supreme Court of Texas Finds that a Reasonable Payment of an Insurance Claim Does Not Satisfy the Texas Prompt Payment of Claims Act [Property Insurance Law Observer Blog]

April 09, 2021

In Hinojos v. State Farm Lloyds, the Supreme Court of Texas addressed liability under the Texas Prompt Payment of Claims Act (the “TPPCA”) when an insurer timely pays only part of a claim.[1] As demonstrated in Hinojos, disputes as to TPPCA liability typically arise in the context of appraisal and...

Texas Supreme Court Identifies Claims that Survive the Payment of an Insurance Appraisal Award [Alert]

July 17, 2019

Donnie M. Apodaca, II, Stephen Pate, and Alicia G. Curran discuss two recent the Supreme Court of Texas’s decisions and considerations for insurers before they invoke appraisal and pay the appraisal awards.

The Supreme Court of Texas Clarifies That a Party Can Testify as an Expert Witness without Waiving the Attorney-Client Privilege [Avoiding Insurance Bad Faith Blog]

March 12, 2019

Litigation usually involves complex issues related to technology, products, or business processes. In many cases, clients are the best subject-matter experts of their craft. Nevertheless, attorneys are sometimes hesitant to designate a client or a client’s employee as an expert witness for fear of...

Texas Court Holds That Unpaid Appraisal Award Does Not Conclusively Establish Causation or Damages in Hurricane Ike Insurance Dispute [Property Insurance Law Observer Blog]

June 06, 2018

While Hurricane Ike made landfall in Texas almost ten years ago, the resulting litigation is alive and well as evidenced by the recent decision in Texas Windstorm Insurance Association v. Dickinson Independent School District, 14-16-00474-CV, 2018 WL 2436924 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] May 31,...

Education

  • SMU Dedman School of Law, J.D., cum laude, 2012
  • New Mexico State University, B.B.A.

Awards & Honors

Best Lawyers in America, "Ones to Watch" 2022, 2023

  • Texas