Areas of Practice
- Commercial Auto
- Construction
- Defense Base Act
- Employer’s Liability
- Insurance Coverage
- Jones Act
- Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act
- Manufacturing
- Maritime Injury, Damage, and Cargo
- Oilfield
- Offshore
- Personal Injury
- Premises Liability
- Products Liability
- Professional Liability
- Retail & Hospitality/li>
- Subrogation
- Trucking
- Wrongful Death
Allen’s practice is split between insurance coverage and the defense of state and maritime personal injury, death, and property damage claims. He has successfully handled employer’s liability and general liability coverage disputes involving insureds and underlying disputes in most of the United States. He has successfully defended state negligence, wrongful death, premises liability, and products liability cases including trucking accidents, traditional slip-and-falls, industrial accidents, motor vehicle accidents, drilling and pipeline accidents, cargo handling accidents, and refinery accidents.
Allen is particularly adept at unraveling, explaining, and handling the complex relationship between state, federal, foreign, and contractual remedies when accidents happen offshore and in foreign lands. Allen’s practice also includes the institution and defense of vessel owner limitation of liability actions, vessel seizure and sale, the defense of allisions and collisions, oil spill litigation, OPA claims, and maritime contract and subrogation claims.
Allen grew up in the Dallas area and now lives in Houston with his wife, Lori, two teenagers, and multiple pets. He received an M.B.A. prior to becoming a lawyer, and he is proud to be an attorney who is not afraid of a little math.
Recognition
- Super Lawyers, 2013-24
- Best Lawyers, 2021-25
- Houstonia Magazine Top Lawyers, 2017, 2019
Speaking Engagements
- Annual Longshore Conference (New Orleans); Topic: “Navigating Maritime Jurisdiction” (3/19/2015)
- Risk and Insurance Management Society (New Orleans); Topic: “Safety Incentive Programs and the Regulatory Environment” (4/29/2015)
- Annual Longshore Conference (New Orleans); Topic: “Third-Party Claims and LHWCA Claims” (3/21/2019)
- The Workers’ Compensation Institute (Orlando); Topic: “Jurisdictional Considerations and Interplay with Longshore, Jones Act, DBA, State Workers’ Compensation, and Foreign Voluntary Claims” (12/15/2021)
- University of Texas Admiralty and Maritime Law Conference (Houston); Topic: “What’s New in Limitation Cases” (2/2/2024)
Representative Matters/ Experience
- Multiple removals and summary judgments following fraudulent claims of Jones Act seaman status.
- Successful trial and appellate defense of coverage denial for capsized yacht.
- Secured $18,000,000 judgment in maritime contract dispute.
- Secured first successful removal of a general maritime injury claim lacking diversity or federal question following the Judicial Venue Clarification Act of 2011.
- Secured dismissal by Plea to the Jurisdiction when temporary employment agency worker sued borrowing employer following truck accident.
- Secured dismissal in favor of entity sued as an alleged participant in a conspiracy to defraud lender in a multi-million-dollar real estate transaction.
- Secured $3,600,000 judgment in vessel allision.
Education
- Trinity University, Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Science, 1991
- University of Texas at Austin, Master of Business Administration, 1993
- University of Texas at Austin, Doctor of Jurisprudence, 1996
Admissions
- State Bar of Texas, 1996
- U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas
- U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas
- U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas
- U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas
