Clay Dugas and Associates

Profile

Clay Dugas, named to the Texas Super Lawyers® list, has successfully represented personal injury victims for more than 25 years. He has tried approximately 150 jury trials to verdict and has obtained more than 35 verdicts and settlements in excess of $1 million. “I am privileged to head up a highly experienced and aggressive litigation team that focuses on complex and catastrophic cases,” Dugas says. “I recognize that lawsuits are extremely stressful for the client, and that for each client the case really is about principle.”

PRACTICE AREAS

Clay Dugas and Associates is exclusively devoted to personal injury litigation. The firm handles cases in many areas, including medical malpractice, motor vehicle accidents, sexual molestation and sexual assault and representation of nurses and physicians for wrongful termination.

LEGAL EXCELLENCE

Dugas is board-certified in personal injury trial law and has an AV-rating in Martindale-Hubbell®’s Bar Register of Preeminent Lawyers. He is a member of the Million Dollar Advocates Forum, the Multi-Million Dollar Advocate Forum, the Texas Bar Foundation, the Texas Trial Lawyers Association and the American Association for Justice. Born in Austin in 1956, Dugas graduated from the University of Dallas in Irving and Baylor Law School.

TRACK RECORD OF SUCCESS

In his first case, Dugas obtained a record verdict for false imprisonment and malicious prosecution against the Kroger Company. In 1981, he successfully tried Ron Petit and Debbie West v. Sheriff James Wade, which set a record for whistleblower cases for Southeast Texas. In 1989, he tried Chataginer v. U-Haul, et. al., which involved a defective trailer hook-up that killed a father and resulted in a record verdict in Orange County against Valley Industries Trailer Ball Manufacturer. Besides the monetary factor, the case led to changes in the product to increase safety.

MAKING A DIFFERENCE

Dugas has successfully brought numerous sexual molestation cases against the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon Church), and he is currently prosecuting child molestation cases against the Pentecostal Church. In 1998, he obtained a multimillion-dollar verdict against the Mormon Church in a sexual molestation case in Montgomery County.

“Although one cannot rank injuries, sexual trauma to a child is usually most heinous and long lasting,” Dugas says. “I feel most successful when I see a real change in policy and attitude that deters wrongful conduct.”