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Dara Hegar

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Dara Hegar

Dara Hegar, a Houston native, brought her expertise in complex litigation and trial coordination to the Lanier Law Firm in 1999. She is a Managing Attorney in the Houston office. She represents clients in each of the firm’s practice areas with a focus on trial coordination in complex litigation matters. While Mrs. Hegar’s proficiency spans across all of the firm's practice areas, her specialty is providing specific insight that has resulted in many significant verdicts and settlements.

Admitted to the Texas bar in 1998, she received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science with honors from Texas A&M University in 1995. She received her Master of Arts degree in International Relations and her law degree from St. Mary's University, where she served with distinction as Associate Editor of the Law Journal in 1998. She further served as briefing attorney to the Honorable Richard H. Edelman at the Fourteenth Court of Appeals from 1998 through 1999, before joining the Lanier Law Firm.

Mrs. Hegar has been named a "Rising Star" in the legal community six times by Texas Monthly, receiving the honor each year from 2006 through 2012

She is a member of the Houston Bar Association, the State Bar of Texas, and Texas Young Lawyers Association.

She resides in Katy, Texas with her husband, Glenn, and their three children. Mrs. Hegar is an active member of her church as well as assisting the Christ Clinic of Katy, which provides medical services for the poor and indigent.

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The Lanier Law Firm's Practice Areas (Click to Select)

Asbestos Exposure

Toxic Exposure

The Lanier Law Firm is one of the most experienced asbestos litigation law firms in the world. The firm's expertise and reputation, in these cases, derives from a long, successful track record that spans nearly two decades. Asbestos and other chemicals that have many recognized positive and helpful uses also could be dangerous or even fatal. Unfortunately, Americans are frequently exposed to toxic chemicals, whether they are discharged accidentally into our air or water, or we are exposed to them in our schools or workplace. Exposure to toxic chemicals can cause fatal illness.

The Lanier Law Firm has significant experience working on behalf of families and victims of chemical exposures. For example, in 1998 Mark Lanier won a substantial recovery for 21 steelworkers who contracted the asbestos disease at an Alabama steel mill (Aaron, et al. v. Abex, et al, February 1998). The workers were exposed to asbestos while using a grinding wheel. The jury found the defendants liable for marketing and design defects, negligence, gross negligence and malice.

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Pharmaceutical Liability

Pharmaceutical Liability

Newsflash: Newsflash: On July 13, 2011, the FDA issued an update to inform physicians and the public that serious complications associated with surgical mesh for transvaginal repair are not rare. The Lanier Law Firm is litigating cases against the makers of Transvaginal Surgical Mesh for serious complications.

The Lanier Law Firm is a pioneer in its involvement in numerous pharmaceutical liability litigations, with an extremely successful track record. The Pharmaceutical Liability Practice Group at The Lanier Law Firm has decades of experience representing clients who have been injured as a result of the negligence of others. The firm garnered national attention during its VIOXX litigation, most notably winning a substantial verdict against Merck & Co. in the very first VIOXX lawsuit to go to trial as well as securing two additional very significant plaintiff verdicts.

The Lanier Law Firm also represents clients who have suffered injuries involving such high profile dangerous drugs and devices such as Depuy Hip Replacements, Yaz/Yasmin, Chantix, Paxil, and Levaquin as well as other drugs and medical devices.

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Personal Injury

Personal Injury

The Lanier Law Firm represents those injured as a result of the negligence of others. Our decades of courtroom experience and our state-of-the-art preparation puts our clients on a level playing field with the insurance companies we're fighting. We put our clients' best interests first and foremost, and our results prove it.

We have obtained substantial recoveries on behalf of the following clients:

  • a 32-year-old operator at the Citgo facility in Louisiana who was burned over 50% of his body in a workplace accident;
  • a Freeport man who was injured in a plant explosion. The 23-year-old victim sustained second- and third-degree burns over a majority of his body as a result of the explosion;
  • a young man who became a quadriplegic after diving off of a pier where there was inadequate warning that the water level did not surpass one foot of depth;


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Commercial Litigation

Commercial Litigation

In addition to representing individuals, The Lanier Law Firm has significant experience working on behalf of businesses suing for breach of contract, patent infringement, employment disputes, antitrust, fraud, and other causes of action.

Our Commercial Litigation Practice Group helps businesses in legal actions against larger competitors who use unfair and illegal business practices to gain a competitive edge. Our aggressive approach to business litigation has resulted in several noteworthy – and often highly confidential – recoveries for our clients.

Not only do our business clients benefit from our courtroom expertise, but many of our opponents have gone on to hire us to represent them in their own disputes. Clearly, they know that it's better to have The Lanier Law Firm with them than against them.

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Product Liability Litigation at The Lanier Law Firm

Product Liability

When a consumer buys a product, they rightfully expect it to perform safely and efficiently. Unfortunately, that isn't always the case. Use of defective products can result in tragic consequences.

A defective product is one that was either designed with defects or was manufactured improperly. Flawed design or manufacturing defects may result in unsafe products that cause injury to consumers. There have been countless cases of defectively or dangerously designed consumer products harming and often killing consumers, including children.

In a products liability case, the law may find blame with any or all individuals involved in the manufacture of a product. This can include the designer, manufacturer, supplier and retailer. These individuals may be held liable for any injury their product causes.

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Medical Malpractice

Medical Malpractice

When patients seek medical care, they deserve treatment that meets or exceeds the standard of care for the medical profession. Unfortunately, in many cases just the opposite occurs.

Because of human error as well as systemic problems, between 44,000 and 98,000 people are killed each year by medical errors in hospitals, according to the National Academies of Sciences. That is more than the number of people who die from car accidents, breast cancer or AIDS. Deaths from medication errors that take place both in and out of hospitals - more than 7,000 annually - exceed those from workplace injuries.

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Maritime Law

Maritime Law

Maritime Law (also known as Admiralty Law) is a separate body of law governing a variety of maritime-related disputes.

The Lanier Law Firm has represented a broad range of clients in numerous Jones Act (Seaman's injury) cases; cargo carriage disputes; oil spills; water pollution claims; vessel financing, operation, construction and re-building disputes; maritime liens; commercial/contractual claims (including charter parties); and a variety of other maritime disputes.

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Intellectual Property

intellectual property litigation the the lanier law firm

Thousands of hours in the courtroom have provided The Lanier Law Firm with the skills that clients need when their patents and other intellectual-property rights are threatened.

Infringement of valuable intellectual-property rights unfortunately is all too common in today's complex global marketplace. Our attorneys are experienced in providing strategic counsel and aggressive representation to vindicate our clients' rights in a variety of intellectual property matters.

Combining excellent litigation skills with in-depth knowledge, our Intellectual Property Litigation Group represents clients in disputes involving patent infringement, trademark and copyright violations, trade secret misappropriation and other areas of intellectual property law.

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Bad Faith Insurance

bad-faith-insurance

When you buy a commercial property or homeowners' insurance policy, you expect the insurance company to stand behind you when disaster strikes. Unfortunately, that all too often is not the case. In our years of representing individuals and businesses, we've seen firsthand how far insurance providers will go to avoid paying legitimate claims.

With top-notch litigation skills and in-depth knowledge of the insurance industry, the attorneys at The Lanier Law Firm represent businesses, individuals and families that have been victims of bad faith tactics by insurance carriers.

There are numerous ways that an insurance company will act in bad faith to deny legitimate claims, such as:

  • Denying that a valid claim is covered under the policy
  • Delaying investigation or payment of a claim
  • Paying only partial benefits for a claim

 

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Federal Employers' Liability Act Claims 

federal-employers-liability-act

The Lanier Law Firm continues its tradition of fighting for those who have been injured by the negligence of others by applying its expertise to the Federal Employers' Liability Act (FELA) claims of railroad workers.

Congress passed the Federal Employers’ Liability Act in 1908, for the purpose of providing compensation to railroad employees who are injured on the job. It enables injured employees to bring claims directly against their employers where it can be shown that it was the railroad’s negligence that caused the injury.

Lanier Law Firm attorney Patrice McKinney has fought hard for railroad workers, and has handled numerous FELA cases, including 6 cases resulting in significant recoveries for our clients.

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Sports and Entertainment Law

sports-entertainment-law

The Lanier Law Firm is proud to be on the forefront of representing clients involved in the Sports and Entertainment industry.  Eugene Egdorf, the practice group leader out of our Houston office, Evan Janush, in the New York office, and Lee Cirsch, from the Los Angeles office, are as zealous, devoted, and focused as the athletes they represent. Eugene, a skilled advocate for college players and their families, is an often-sought-out national speaker on the numerous subjects pertaining to Sports and Entertainment litigation as well as safety issues. He is also a certified contract advisor with the NFL Players Association and the Canadian Football League.

As sports law becomes a larger element of entertainment law, The Lanier Law Firm offers its litigation expertise to clients who are in this dynamic profession. We provide counsel and representation on numerous issues arising in any context of sports-related litigation.

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International Arbitration and Disputes

international-arbitration

In today's global economy, more and more companies find themselves in disputes that cross geographical borders. These disputes inevitably involve differences in cultures and legal systems, and The Lanier Law Firm's International Arbitration and Dispute Practice helps clients bridge that gap.

Firm founder Mark Lanier leads the International Arbitration and Dispute Practice. He and the firm attorneys, such as arbitration veteran Alex Brown, assist corporations in arbitration matters, as well as working with law firms that want to guard against conflicts with their corporate clients.

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