Corpus Christi personal injury lawyer Reagan Sahadi has dedicated his professional life to helping victims of negligence get the justice and compensation they deserve. He has recovered more than $200 million in verdicts and settlements for his clients since 2009, including the largest verdict for actual damages in El Paso County history. But a recent case left Sahadi unable to recover more than minimum policy limits for his clients, which left him deeply disappointed by the outcome of the case.
Unable to make his clients whole again in a situation caused by negligence, Sahadi is going the next step – working on getting a bill passed in the Texas Legislature after contacting Rep. David Spiller of House District 68. The bill that Sahadi helped direct would eliminate the current loophole that certain commercial trucks in Texas, licensed by the Texas Dept. of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR), are not required to carry commercial auto insurance while operating. This means that TDLR licensees, which include air conditioning service technicians, plumbers, and electricians, can have minimal auto insurance on their work trucks, even though these vehicles are used daily in the course of business.
The current minimum limit on automobile insurance is $30,000, although a much more comprehensive $1 million general liability policy is required by TDLR for any activities or liabilities created at a job site. Sahadi is seeking to make commercial auto insurance mandatory as part of the insurance requirements for those individuals licensed under the TDLR, and who primarily use their vehicles in the course and scope of their business. This would ensure that TDLR licensees are more appropriately covered if someone is injured when traveling to and from work.
Sahadi agrees that a reasonable solution does not necessarily need to be a $1 million commercial limit, which may not be an affordable insurance premium for a sole proprietor; he instead is striving for the compromise of a $500,000 minimum limit.
The Case of Ibeth Gary
It was on December 11, 2020, that Ibeth Gary was killed when a plumbing truck carrying the minimum insurance hydroplaned into her vehicle on a wet roadway. The plumber acted negligently by traveling too fast for the road conditions near the Wal-Mart in Lampasas, Texas. At only 46 years old, Gary left behind her husband of 26 years, their three sons, her elderly mother, and two brothers. Gary had spent 17 years working at Wal-Mart to help support her family; her death left them both without her salary and without reasonable compensation for her loss.
Reagan Sahadi was hired by the Gary family with the hopes of negotiating a settlement befitting the magnitude of their loss. Unfortunately, the family received only the minimum policy limits that the defendant truck driver was required by law to carry as auto insurance. Although he is not a lawmaker, Sahadi found the current loophole in liability coverage to be totally unacceptable, and he decided to take action to ensure that such a situation never occurs again.
Reagan Sahadi is Results-Driven
Although most of Reagan Sahadi’s battles occur in the courtroom, he is not afraid to move his efforts to the Texas House of Representatives in order to find justice for his clients. When someone hires Sahadi for a case, the understanding is that their goals become his goals. Because his hands were tied in his ability to deliver monetary compensation for the benefit of his client, he is willing to go directly to the source of the injustice – the law itself – and enact real, lasting change.
Because of his tenacity and hard work, Sahadi often wins verdicts and settlements worth millions of dollars for his clients, including more than $124 million for a bus crash. He is licensed to practice in all Texas state courts, and in the Southern, Eastern, and Western Districts of Texas. He is a member of the Texas Trial Lawyers Association and the Attorneys Information Exchange Group and received an “AV Preeminent” rating by LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbell Peer Review. An “AV” rating means that an attorney has reached the highest level of professional excellence and is recognized for the highest levels of skill and integrity, as decided by their peers.
After spending his entire life in South Texas, Reagan Sahadi is passionate about improving the region in any way that he can. He and his wife are local philanthropists and business owners, investing heavily in their communities. This is his first foray into changing the current laws, rather than only upholding them in court.
