Karl A. Schulz

Member

Karl is an experienced litigator who serves clients in the insurance industry. He has a particular focus on first party property claims and is widely published on the subject. Karl has represented commercial property insurers and residential property insurers in coverage disputes and appraisals involving alleged damage caused by theft, fire, wind, hail, winter storms, and hurricane events as well as in coverage disputes involving alleged common-law bad faith, statutory bad faith, and violations of Texas Insurance Code Chapters 541 and 542.

Karl is Board Certified, Insurance Law – Texas Board of Legal Specialization. He is also a member of the Insurance Law Section, State Bar of Texas. 

Karl earned his bachelor’s degree, cum laude, from the University of Southern California, and his Master of Public Administration from California State University, Northridge. He earned his law degree from the University of Houston Law Center.

An active member of the community, Karl leads the Houston office’s charitable activities.

 

Experience

Publications

Fifth Circuit Holds That Sales Tax is Not a Component of Actual Cash Value [Property Insurance Law Observer Blog]

July 29, 2024

Ending a putative class action, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit examined policy language and two statutes to hold that an insurer does not owe sales tax on top of an actual cash value payment. The citation is Taylor v. Root Ins. Co., 2024 U.S. App. LEXIS 18240 (5th Cir....

Texas Supreme Court Rejects Free Speech and Due Process Challenges to Public Adjuster Regulations [Alert]

June 10, 2024

Karl Schulz discusses the Texas Supreme Court's recent ruling rejecting Stonewater Roofing's claim that a Texas statute violated free speech and due process rights.

Texas Insurance Ruling Could Restore Finality To Appraisal [Law360]

March 06, 2024

Law360 published the “Texas Insurance Ruling Could Restore Finality To Appraisal” Expert Analysis column written by Karl A. Schulz.

The End of a “Forever War”? Texas Supreme Court Answers Certified Question Concerning Appraisal [Alert]

February 13, 2024

Karl Schulz reviews a Texas Supreme Court finding on a key issue concerning appraisal that was dividing lower Texas state courts and Texas federal district courts.

Louisiana Supreme Court Reverses a Rare State Court of Appeals Win for COVID-19 Business Interruption Claimant [Property Insurance Law Observer Blog]

March 27, 2023

COVID-19 business interruption claimants have had few state appellate court decisions upon which to rely. Louisiana produced one such decision in Cajun Conti, LLC v. Certain Underwriters at Lloyd’s, 2022 La. App. LEXIS 939 (La. App. 4 Cir., June 15, 2022). The insurer prevailed in the trial court...

Texas Court of Appeals Nixes Plaintiff’s Attorney’s Fees Award Because Offsets Preclude Prevailing Party Status [Property Insurance Law Observer Blog]

December 09, 2022

The First Court of Appeals in Houston affirmed an analysis that involved math and application of the Texas Insurance Code. In Jones v. Allstate Vehicle & Property Insurance Company, 2022 Tex. App. LEXIS 8896 (Tex. App.—Houston [1st Dist.] Dec. 6, 2022, no pet.), the policyholder appealed a...

Fifth Circuit Resolves Split Over Chapter 542A Election of Liability for Agents [Property Insurance Law Observer Blog]

October 11, 2022

In Advanced Indicator & Manufacturing v. Acadia Insurance Company,[1] the Fifth Circuit resolved a thorny split in Texas federal district courts regarding Texas Insurance Code Chapter 542A by returning to a bedrock principle governing removal. Now as long as the insurer has elected to accept...

Oklahoma Supreme Court Rejects “Loss of Use” Argument, Nixes COVID-19 Business Interruption Suit [Property Insurance Law Observer Blog]

September 19, 2022

There is a clear nationwide trend of federal courts disposing of COVID-19 business interruption suits.[1] Insureds are not clearing their initial burden to establish direct physical loss or damage to property, or they are running afoul of virus and contamination exclusions. Relatively few state...

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...

Major Victories for Insurers in Fifth Circuit Regarding COVID-19 Business Interruption Claims [Property Insurance Law Observer Blog]

January 07, 2022

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has joined seven other Circuits in finding no coverage for COVID-19 business interruption claims.[1]  In Terry Black’s Barbecue, L.L.C. v. State Auto. Mut. Ins. Co., 2022 U.S. App. LEXIS 287 (5th Cir. Jan. 5, 2022) and Aggie Invs., L.L.C. v. Continental Cas. Co.,...

Seventh Circuit Continues String of Insurer Victories in COVID-19 Business Interruption Litigation [Property Insurance Law Observer Blog]

December 21, 2021

At least five Circuit Courts of Appeal have now come out in favor of insurers in COVID-19 business interruption lawsuits.[1] The latest is the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Sandy Point Dental, P.C. v. Cincinnati Ins. Co., 2021 U.S. App. LEXIS 36399 (7th Cir. Dec. 9, 2021). The Court in Sandy...

Tenth Circuit Rules Against Insurer and Decides That Appraisers Can Decide Causation [Property Insurance Law Observer Blog]

October 12, 2021

In the continuing saga of what can and cannot be appraised in a property insurance appraisal, the Tenth Circuit, in contrast to many other courts, has ruled appraisers can determine coverage issues. In Bonbeck Parker, LLC v. Travelers Indem. Co. of Am., 2021 U.S. App. LEXIS 29607 (10th Cir....

Fifth Circuit Weighs in on Aftermath of Texas Supreme Court’s Decisions Affecting Insurers’ Pre-Appraisal Award Payments and Damages under the Texas Prompt Payment of Claims Act [Avoiding Insurance Bad Faith Blog]

August 20, 2021

Just a few short years ago, there was a bright line rule under Texas law concerning appraisal awards. If an insurer timely paid an appraisal award, that payment extinguished all of the insurer’s contractual and extracontractual liability to the insured. See, e.g., Garcia v. State Farm Lloyds, 514...

Court’s Opinion Provides Guidance on Protecting a Claims Handling Manual as a Trade Secret [Property Insurance Law Observer Blog]

November 10, 2020

In Chavez v. Std. Ins. Co., 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 203610 (N.D. Tex. Oct. 30, 2020), Judge David C. Godbey considered a variation on a common scenario that arises in first party cases. Typically, the insured/plaintiff wants an insurer’s claims handling manual to use against the insurer in proving...

What Public Adjusters Can and Cannot Do Under Texas Law

October 10, 2020

Karl A. Schulz wrote the article, "What Public Adjusters Can and Cannot Do Under Texas Law" for the State Bar of Texas' Fall 2020 Journal of Consumer and Commercial Law.

New Hurricane Harvey Opinion Provides a Roadmap to Defeating Common Policyholder Attorney Tactics [Property Insurance Law Observer Blog]

April 29, 2020

Policyholders attorneys often try to skip the threshold steps of bringing their client’s claim within coverage and allocating between covered and non-covered causes of loss. Instead, the policyholder attorney would have the insurer first disprove coverage, or at least first justify its...

Texas Supreme Court Follows Through on Barbara Technologies and Ortiz With Three Important New Decisions [Alert]

April 22, 2020

Karl A. Schulz and Stephen P. Pate discuss three recent cases decided by the Texas Suprme Court that revived policyholder suits that were in limbo when Barbara Technologies and Ortiz were decided.

Industry Sectors

Education

  • University of Houston Law Center, J.D., 2007
  • California State University, Northridge , M.P.A., 2003
  • University of Southern California, B.A., cum laude, 1999

Awards & Honors

American Bar Association Military Pro Bono Outstanding Service Award

Board Certified, Insurance Law - Texas Board of Legal Specialization (TBLS)

  • Texas
  • U.S. District Court -- Eastern District of Texas
  • U.S. District Court -- Northern District of Texas
  • U.S. District Court -- Southern District of Texas
  • U.S. District Court -- Western District of Texas

State Bar of Texas, Insurance Law Section

Windstorm Insurance Network