Practice Areas: Construction Litigation, Civil Litigation, Real Estate; view more
Licensed in Texas since: 1995
Education: Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law
Selected to Super Lawyers: 2014 - 2024 
Selected to Rising Stars: 2004, 2009 Call today:
214-823-2006
Nowak & Stauch, PLLC
10000 North Central ExpresswaySuite 1040
Dallas, TX 75231 Visit website
Details
Throughout his career, Thomas R. Stauch has helped numerous clients throughout Dallas and northern Texas with complex commercial litigation cases, including construction, real estate and business tort litigation, as well as other matters. A partner at Nowak & Stauch, PLLC, in Dallas, Texas, he devotes the majority of his practice to litigation, but is often asked to review and draft contracts for his clients as well. In 2018, Tom was added to the Roster of Arbitrators for the American Arbitration Association.
Mr. Stauch graduated from Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law, where he was a member of the Phi Delta Phi honors fraternity and served as an editor for The International Lawyer law review. Mr. Stauch has been licensed to practice law in Texas for for over 20 years, and is also licensed to practice in the U.S. district courts for the northern, southern and eastern districts of Texas, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit and the U.S. Supreme Court. In 2016, Mr. Stauch was also licensed to practice law in Colorado.
Among other honors, Mr. Stauch has been rated AV Preeminent* by the peer review service Martindale-Hubbell, the highest rating given by the organization for legal ability and ethics.
Showing his commitment to professional education and development, Mr. Stauch has served as an adjunct professor at El Centro College in Dallas. He has also lectured for legal organizations and industry groups. He has also had several articles published in the official publication of the Texas Association of Builders.
Always finding the time to be actively involved in numerous professional organizations, Mr. Stauch is a member of the State Bar of Texas, the Dallas Bar Association and the Association of Former Students of Texas A&M University, and The Corps of Cadets Association. He also makes time for volunteer work in his church and community schools, has served on the City of Dallas Urban Rehabilitation Standards Board, and has coached soccer, baseball and football teams for his three children.
*AV Preeminent and BV Distinguished are certification marks of Reed Elsevier Properties Inc., used in accordance with the Martindale-Hubbell certification procedures, standards and policies. Martindale-Hubbell is the facilitator of a peer review rating process. Ratings reflect the confidential opinions of members of the Bar and the judiciary. Martindale-Hubbell ratings fall into two categories – legal ability and general ethical standards.
Practice areas
Construction Litigation: Business, Civil Litigation: Defense, Real Estate: Business, Alternative Dispute Resolution, Civil Litigation: Plaintiff, Construction Litigation: Consumer, Real Estate: ConsumerFocus areas
Arbitration, Construction Defects, Mediation
- 20% Construction Litigation: Business
- 20% Civil Litigation: Defense
- 20% Real Estate: Business
- 10% Alternative Dispute Resolution
- 10% Civil Litigation: Plaintiff
- 10% Construction Litigation: Consumer
- 10% Other
First Admitted: 1995, Texas
Professional Webpage: https://www.ns-law.net/Attorneys/Thomas-R-Stauch.shtml
- The State Bar of Texas, 1995
- Construction Law Section - The State Bar of Texas
- Member - Dallas Bar Association
- Tom Stauch successfully defended a national homebuilder in an arbitration filed by the a homeowner asserting claims of negligence, marketing defect, and design defect related to the attic and attic access ladder. The homeowner sustained serious injuries after inadvertently stepped on the attic pull-down ladder and falling to the garage floor below. After rejecting multiple reasonable pre-arbitration offers of settlement, the claimant continued to demand $750,000 to settle his claims. Following the evidentiary hearing, the Arbitrator found that the claimant was aware of the attic pull-down ladder and the dangers of stepping on it, needed no warnings, and disagreed that the attic was unreasonably dangerous. The Award in the homebuilder’s favor denied the claims of negligence and further denied claimant’s theories of marketing and design defect. The claimant was denied any recovery., 2023
- Tom Stauch secured a summary judgment for a land developer and builder accused of increasing storm water volume and rate into the downstream neighbor’s property. After more than 10 years of negotiations and threats of litigation, the landowner filed suit against the developer, builder, HOA, and property management company for various causes of action, including nuisance, trespass, negligence, as well as fraud, breach of contract and promissory estoppel. Tom moved for summary judgment on the neighbor’s claims against the HOA and management company, and those claims were then voluntarily dismissed. Tom then filed a motion for summary judgment on the neighbor’s remaining claims against the builder / developer, and that motion was granted. Even after the ruling, Tom attempted to negotiate a resolution, but the neighbor appealed and still demanded $700,000 to settle his claims. The Fort Worth Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court’s ruling, and the neighbor recovered nothing. Read the opinion here. Undeterred, the claimant attempted to appeal again to the Texas Supreme Court, which rejected the petition without the necessity of a response from the firm’s builder / developer client., 2024
- Tom Stauch and Doni Mazaheri secured a summary judgment victory for a commercial client that specialized in distributing personal protective equipment during the COVID-19 pandemic. The plaintiff was a former marketing agent who had a contract with the distributor, seeking more than $2,000,000 in damages based on claims for breach of contract and fraud. At the hearing on the parties’ competing motions for summary judgment hearing, the critical issue in the case was the interpretation of the parties’ contract language. The judge ruled in favor of the client distributor, denied all four motions for summary judgment filed by the plaintiff, and dismissed the plaintiff’s claims for breach of contract and fraud., 2022
- Tom Stauch successfully defended a national homebuilder in an arbitration filed by the claimant homeowners claims of negligence, DTPA violations, and breach of the structural and habitability warranties filed by the second owners of the home. As the second owners of the home, the claimants resisted arbitration as non-signatories to the sales contract and warranty, but after two trips to the Austin Court of Appeals, they were compelled to arbitrate. Because the home experienced multiple episodes of water penetration, particularly in the basement, the homeowners claimed these defects were caused by the homebuilder’s original inadequate installation of waterproofing and French drains. However, Tom uncovered evidence to prove the original homeowner substantially altered the home shortly after closing in order to finish out and make the basement into a habitable space. In doing so, the remodel contractor altered or damaged some of Toll’s original waterproofing and French drains. Further, even though the first owner failed to make adequate and truthful disclosures, the claimants knew about the water penetration and mold in the basement at the time of their purchase, and even negotiated for a discounted purchase price. After rejecting a pre-arbitration offer of $75,000, and presenting a claim for damages of $597,698 at the hearing, the claimants were awarded a total of only $28,908., 2020
- After successfully defending the firm’s HOA client at trial against a seven-figure claim brought by the former developer gone bankrupt, Tom Stauch partnered with co-counsel Dusty Fillmore and Bryan Bruner to defeat the developer’s appeal at the Fort Worth Court of Appeals and preserve the victory for the firm’s client. Read the opinion HERE., 2020
- Tom Stauch settled a construction defect claim filed by a homeowners association for $5.9 million in connection with a 39-unit condominium project. After joining the responsible subcontractors to the case, the claim was settled for a fraction of the demand, and the settlement was funded almost entirely by subcontractors as opposed to the firm’s client. , 2019
- Tom Stauch secured a final judgment based on the 2017 arbitration award in favor of his client against her former divorce lawyers and their law firm. The defendants were Board Certified Family Lawyers in Dallas and serve as officers of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, but were found to be negligent in connection with their representation, including their failure to disclose potential conflicts of interest based upon their own prior work on the client’s marital property agreement. Some of the damages awarded were disgorged legal fees originally charged by the lawyers during the divorce trial, based upon a breach of their fiduciary duties to the client., 2018
- Tom Stauch and Ryan Gentry secured a victory for the firm’s clients in a breach of contract case stemming from a failed business purchase agreement. The lawsuit was filed seeking to a lawsuit seeking to force the sale of the fencing company our clients have owned and operated for more than 40 years. After the threat of a forced sale was defeated by establishing the contract was invalid and unenforceable, Tom was able to establish the would-be purchaser had misrepresented himself, his company, and his financial commitment to the purchase, leading to a favorable resolution for a mere fraction of the original demand., 2018
- In a three-week trial in Tarrant County, Tom Stauch defended his HOA client against claims for breach of loan agreements made by former officers and directors of the HOA. Of the more than $1 million in claimed damages, approximately $75,000 was awarded, which was further offset by findings of breach of fiduciary duty against two of the three former directors and a recovery of $18,000 in damages on the HOA’s own claims., 2017
- Tom Stauch, fraud and breach of fiduciary duty asserted by a corporation against its former President. The client was accused of self-dealing and failure to repay a note, and those claims were resolved by summary judgment in the client’s favor., 2017
- Tom Stauch orchestrated the settlement of construction defect claims related to roofing, framing, window and door flashing, and stucco installation in a 64-unit condominium regime with claimed damages exceeding $2.5 million., 2017
- See additional cases handled by Tom Stauch at www.ns-law.net/Newsroom.shtml
- See a list of some of Tom Stauch's clients website at www.ns-law.net/Representative-Clients.shtml
- AAA Roster of Arbitrators, 2022
- Allen Sports Association - Competition Committee, 2022
- Dallas City Council, Urban Rehabilitation Standards Board, 2005
- Volunteer mentor - Rountree Elementary School, Allen, Texas, 2017
- Volunteer writer - Chase Oaks Church, Plano Texas
- The Aggie 100 honors the 100 fastest growing Aggie-owned or Aggie-led businesses in the world. In its 20 years, Aggie 100 has recognized 1,198 Aggie leaders and 975 individual companies with a combined total annual revenue of $103.7 billion. In our first 20 years at Nowak & Stauch, we've had the honor of representing hundreds of outstanding clients - from individuals to Fortune 500 corporations - helping them achieve the desired result in commercial, construction, and real estate litigation ... winning., Aggie 100, McFerrin Center for Entreprenuership - Texas A&M University, 2024
- D Best Lawyers, D Magazine, 2024
- D Best Lawyers, D Magazine, 2023
- D Best Lawyers, D Magazine, 2022
- D Best Lawyers, D Magazine, 2021
- AV Rated by Martindale-Hubbell from 2005 - Present. An "AV" rating by Martindale-Hubbell's peer review rating system is the highest rating available. The designation recognizes Tom for high ethical standards and "very high to preeminent legal abilities.", AV Rated, Martindale - Hubbell
- Texas A&M University, BBA in Management and Marketing, 1992
- Southern Methodist University, Dedman School of Law, JD, 1995
- Author, The United States and Vietnam: Overcoming the Past and Investing in the Future, 1994
- Author, Insurance and Construction Defects: 'Lamar Homes' Impact on Liability, Texas Homebuilder Magazine, Residential Construction, 2008
- Author, Is the Residential Construction Liability Act a Valid Defense for Subcontractors?, Texas Homebuilder Magazine, Residential Construction, 2007
- Super Lawyer, 2024
- Super Lawyer, 2023
- Super Lawyer, 2022
- Super Lawyer, 2021
- Super Lawyer, 2020
- Super Lawyer, 2019
- Super Lawyer, 2018
- Super Lawyer, 2017
- Super Lawyer, 2016
- Super Lawyer, 2015
- Super Lawyer, 2014
- Super Lawyers - Rising Star, 2009
- Super Lawyers - Rising Star, 2004
- See website at www.ns-law.net/Attorneys/Thomas-R-Stauch.shtml
Office location for Thomas R. Stauch
10000 North Central Expressway
Suite 1040
Dallas, TX 75231
Phone: 214-823-2006
Selections
- Super Lawyers: 2014 - 2024
- Rising Stars: 2004, 2009
