Roni Mihaly
Partner / Bay Area Houston Office

Roni Mihaly is an experienced litigator and trusted advisor to her business clients on all manner of employment and insurance issues.

Much of Roni’s practice focuses on advising and assisting her corporate clients on employment and human resources issues.  She advises her clients on compliance with employment laws and regulations, the design and conducting of internal investigations, navigating challenging leave issues, and the effective and practical management of personnel issues. Roni develops training materials and trains client on human resources law and policy.  She has extensive experience developing and drafting corporate policies, procedures, and best practices regarding all aspects of the employment relationship from onboarding to separation and beyond.

Roni represents employer clients before various administrative agencies, including the EEOC, Texas Workforce Commission, and the Department of Labor where she advocates for them through the charge, complaint, and audit processes. And, when litigation does arise, Roni represents clients in state and federal courts throughout the United States.

Roni also has significant experience in insurance claims and administration litigation, including first-party health and life disputes, including extra-contractual claims, such as bad faith allegations, as well as health and accident reinsurance disputes and property and casualty coverage matters.

Roni has successfully represented corporate clients in a wide variety of litigation and arbitration proceedings in both state and federal courts.  She has won numerous judgments, from summary judgments on behalf of corporate employer clients, to defeating improper fraud and RICO claims against business clients.

Education

  • University of Houston Law Center – J.D., cum laude, 2000
  • Texas A&M University, College Station, English and History – B.A., cum laude, 1995

Admissions

  • Texas
  • United States District Court Northern District of Texas
  • United States District Court Southern District of Texas
  • United States District Court Eastern District of Texas
  • United States District Court Western District of Texas

Professional Activities and Memberships

  • University of Houston Law Center – Adjunct Professor – Pretrial Litigation
  • American Bar Association
  • State Bar of Texas
  • Houston Bar Association
  • Galveston County Bar Association
  • Galveston County Young Lawyers, former Treasurer

Civic Involvement

  • Meals on Wheels Volunteer

Representative Cases

  • Successfully obtained favorable summary judgment for corporate employer client on multiple discrimination and retaliation claims involving Family and Medical Leave Act, national origin, religious discrimination allegations.
  • Obtained $20 million dollar pre-hearing security order—against claimants and in favor of insurance company client —in arbitration proceeding involving a contractual dispute.
  • Successfully obtained immediate dismissal with prejudice of an age discrimination claim on oral motion to dismiss.
  • Obtained temporary injunction against plaintiff seeking to avoid proper arbitration proceeding regarding a contractual dispute. Obtained order granting insurance company defendant’s motion to compel arbitration and successfully defended both orders on appeal.
  • Drafted and argued complex motions to compel arbitration in fraud and RICO case asserted by fifteen different plaintiffs against a corporate defendant, avoiding class action claims and state court litigation. Successfully obtained summary judgment in subsequent arbitration.
  • Arbitrated a five-year, multi-state litigation/arbitration contract dispute that resulted in favorable outcome on to the client defendant and obtained confirmation of the arbitration award over the objection of the corporate plaintiff.
  • Obtained summary judgment in favor of insurance company defendant on all of plaintiff’s bad-faith claims surrounding the denial of a life-insurance claim.