David HagEstad Tag Archives

Published on: April 2, 2019

Rockwall County Real Estate Litigation Attorneys

Rockwall and surrounding counties, such as Dallas, Hunt and Kaufman counties, are booming. Since the great recession hit in 2008, these markets have more than rebounded. As a result, their real estate markets are thriving in both the commercial and residential markets. Guest and Gray Law Firm has represented clients across North Texas in all types of matters concerning real property, including commercial real estate purchases and lease agreements, disputes involving commercial real property purchases and leases, residential purchases and leases and disputes arising from them. Easements and boundary disputes, condemnation proceedings, nuisance abatement, and many more. When it comes to real estate and real estate litigation in the Rockwall, Dallas, Hunt or Kaufman county areas, Guest and Gray is the law firm of choice for many local agents, brokers, developers and individual residents.

Our real estate litigation team is headlined by Scott Gray, a Texas Super Lawyer, and David HagEstad, a former real estate agent, who are equipped to handle complex real estate needs for a growing market. We have worked with real estate agents and brokers in a number of different ways, including eviction and back rent for landlords and property managers, specific performance of real estate transactions, and even premises liability matters relating to brokers and agents.

If you have a need for a real estate attorney in the Rockwall, Dallas, Hunt or Kaufman County areas, you need to contact Guest and Gray Law Firm and let us begin reviewing your case and put together a plan of action. Whether it be simple contract review or preparing for a complex real estate litigation matter, Guest and Gray has got you covered. Give us a call today.

Published on: February 27, 2019

Wrongful Death Cases Under Chapter 71 of the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code

by Guest and Gray Law Firm

Wrongful Death cases are hard on everyone involved. When a tragedy occurs that results in the loss of life of a loved one, it can be hard to understand what you need to do next. Here is a simple break down of the steps that the family of a deceased individual who has been killed as a result of someone else’s negligence must take in order to secure recovery after a wrongful death occurs.

What is Wrongful Death?

Wrongful death is defined in Texas under Chapter 71 of the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code. The Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code provides a cause of action under the following circumstances:

Published on: January 23, 2019

Kaufman County’s Trusted Real Estate Attorneys

by Guest and Gray Law Firm

Guest and Gray has been a fixture of Kaufman county for years. We are the largest and highest reviewed law firm in Kaufman county for a reason. We put our clients needs first. That is why more people choose Guest and Gray than any other law firm in Kaufman county. Period.

We have a team of attorneys with various areas of practice. Need a family law attorney? We have that. Need a criminal defense attorney? Yeah, we can do that. Personal Injury? Check.

Real estate law? You better believe it. We have real estate attorneys who know and understand the Kaufman county real estate market, home trends, and legal issues to watch out for, whether it be a residential or commercial property. David HagEstad, a member of our real estate law team, actually sold real estate in the Kaufman county area prior to practicing law. His knowledge of the real estate market and connections to the real estate community, as well as his knowledge of real estate law are a real commodity to our clients.

Published on: December 7, 2018

Guest and Gray: Local. Client Driven. Results Oriented

by Robert Guest

Guest and Gray Law Firm is Kaufman and Rockwall county’s trusted, local personal injury law firm. We are a client driven and results oriented personal injury law firm. Our personal injury team is dedicated to serving the needs of the injured. Our personal injury practice is diverse, spanning from automobile accidents and 18-wheeler wrecks to dog attacks and beyond. No matter the case, our experienced attorneys and knowledgeable staff are prepared to take on the at-fault party and their insurance company.

We are a Local Firm, Dedicated to our Local Community.

We are not a big name Dallas law firm. We like it that way. We don’t have call centers full of assistants. We don’t have claims specialists running your case. We have lawyers dedicated to each matter who personally reviews your case and handles the negotiations with the at-fault party and their insurer. If you call our office, you can speak to your attorney, not their assistant or a claims specialist. Our staff is trained to handle the needs of each case. We do it this way not because we can’t do what those guys in Dallas do. We do it this way because we want to provide the best possible service to our local community. Our main office is in Forney, Texas. We also have an office in Rockwall to serve Rockwall county clients. This is where we are from. Scott Gray, one of our founding partners, graduated from Forney High School. David HagEstad, our personal injury associate graduated from Crandall High School. Most of our staff and assistants are local and grew up in the Kaufman county area. We believe in staying local and serving the community where we grew up. We believe this makes us uniquely capable of serving this area because, well, we know the area. We know what areas are particularly dangerous for drivers and where the majority of accidents occur. We know why. We know that Kaufman county and Rockwall county are experiencing unprecedented growth and that the increased traffic in areas like Rockwall, Forney and Terrell are leading to more accidents. We know that Terrell’s commercial growth will lead to more truck accidents and Forney’s residential growth will lead to more injury accidents involving passenger vehicles.

Published on: December 6, 2018

Kaufman County’s Trusted 18-Wheeler Accident Attorneys

by Guest and Gray Law Firm

Guest and Gray prides itself in being the largest and highest rated law firm in Kaufman county. We are number one because we care about our clients and their situation. Personal injury cases are just that: personal. They happen to real people and it causes REAL problems in their lives. No accident situation can bring more drama to a family’s life than an 18-wheeler accident. These are simply the most destructive types of accidents that can occur on Kaufman county roads. Every year, Kaufman county residents and passers-through die on our local highways due to negligent truck drivers and as our roads become more congested and traveled as a result of development, the numbers will only go up.

Kaufman county is one of the fastest growing counties in Texas. Growth in cities like Forney, Terrell and Crandall will lead the way over the next few years. All three of those cities are corridors in and through Kaufman county with interstate highways and state highways leading right through them. Forney and Terrell have the highly traveled highway 80 and interstate 20 passing right through them and Crandall, as sort of the gateway to East Texas has highway 175. All three cities are gearing up for exponential growth over the next few years as pastureland is converted to shopping, retail and most of all, homes. Crandall has the Wildcat Ranch Development that plans to bring nearly 3,100 unites, which would effectively more than double the population of Crandall alone. Travel anywhere in Forney and you will see new community development and shopping and retail going in, and Terrell leads the way in commercial development. The result of this population increase will be an economic boom. Increased economic out put means an increase in commercial traffic. Commercial traffic means 18-wheelers and other commercial vehicles traveling on our roadways will only increase to meet demand.

At Guest and Gray, our personal injury lawyers see this as being a potential problem for our local citizenry and those who travel our major highways to get to and from home and work. The greater the number of commercial vehicles means that our current and future citizens will be at a greater risk of being injured due to negligent commercial truck drivers as they come into our area. A semi truck, without the tractor-trailer, weighs around 80 thousand pounds, without a tractor-trailer attached. In comparison, the average passenger vehicle weighs about 5,000 pounds. When the two meet at high speeds, the results can be absolutely devastating.

Published on: April 30, 2018

Why Every Motorcycle Rider Needs to Carry Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist Coverage

by Guest and Gray Law Firm

Motorcycle accidents happen in a blink of an eye. The biker is often left with very little time to maneuver to safety, causing them to lay the bike down or simply take the hit straight on. As a result, the injuries that motorcycle riders and passengers incur are regularly more severe than that of those in the vehicle that hit them.

Injuries mean hospital stays, lost wages, long recovery, hospital bills. Big ones. In a typical motorcycle accident here in the Dallas and Fort Worth areas, the amount of medical bills can exceed $100,000 in just the first few days of treatment. We have had countless cases where injured bikers have been in the hospital for weeks, and even months, at a time.

IT DOES NOT TAKE A BIG ACCIDENT TO GET BIG INJURIES IN MOTORCYCLE CASES

Published on: April 26, 2018

The Negative Side of Kaufman and Rockwall County Growth: Eminent Domain

by Guest and Gray Law Firm

Eminent Domain and Condemnation is the process by which the city, county, state, or private utility or other statutorily granted entity, may come in and force you to sell all or part of your property to them under the guise of a public need. For the purposes of this article, the party claiming a public need will be called a “state actor”.

Although it is a fairly complicated process, the state actor will institute negotiations with the property owner in an attempt to purchase the property outright without actually entering into the “eminent domain” process.

Under Texas law, there are three elements required to show for eminent domain: (1) The actor must be the state or a private entity authorized to condemn; (2) the property must be taken for public use; and (3) the landowner must receive adequate compensation for the condemned property.

Published on: October 27, 2017

8 Things to Know After You Get Served In a Lawsuit

by Guest and Gray Law Firm

Have you recently been served with lawsuit in Dallas, Rockwall or Kaufman Counties? Well, stop freaking out for a few minutes and read this article. There are several things you need to understand about the papers you just received and what that means for you, your business and your money.

1. You Are Now On The Clock

If you have been served, the time period for you to file your answer or other plea has begun. It is important for you to understand the time period provided on the citation paperwork you have received. If you have been sued in county or district court, the time period provided is funky and should say something like this: you have until 10:00 AM the Monday next following the expiration of 20 days following the date of service.

Published on: October 9, 2017

Slip and Fall Cases: Duty of Care

by Guest and Gray Law Firm

Stores like Wal-Mart, Kroger and Target owe their customers a duty of care to maintain the floors in a reasonably safe condition for their customers to walk on. For example, lets say that you were injured in a Wal-Mart in Rockwall, Texas and sustained injuries. Now, just because you were shopping in a store and you fell does not mean that you can sue Wal-Mart for your injuries. Generally, a Plaintiff has to prove that Wal-Mart had either actual or constructive knowledge of the dangerous condition that posed an “unreasonable risk of harm” and that Wal-Mart failed to take steps necessary to protect their customers from the dangerous condition.

The law in these circumstances talks about “duties” and we must determine what was Wal-Mart’s duty under the circumstances which led to the slip and fall. The duty that Wal-Mart would have here is a duty to protect their customers from an unreasonable risk of harm. How can they violate this duty? This duty can be violated in three different ways:

Defendant placed a foreign substance on the floor that is walked on.