Ryan DeLaune represents clients in litigation matters with an emphasis on surety and fidelity claims, construction, insurance coverage, real estate, and commercial disputes. He also assists sureties with developing strategies to minimize risk and loss.
Education
Recognitions
Recipient of Strasburger’s Rainmaker Award (2015)
Recipient of Strasburger’s Mike Joplin Award for Recruiting (2014)
Named among Texas Super Lawyers Rising Stars by Thomson Reuters (2023-2024)
Memberships
2020 FSLC Midwinter Meeting, Co-Chaired the Construction Program; Fidelity and Surety Law Committee, Vice-Chair; Diversity and Inclusion Subcommittee, Co-Chair; Young Professionals Subcommittee, previous co-chair
American Bar Association, Fidelity & Surety Law Committee, Tort and Insurance Practice Section, Young Professionals Subcommittee, Co-Chair
Texas Bar Association, Construction Law Section
Dallas Bar Association, Construction Law Section
Defense Research Institute, Construction Law Committee, Fidelity & Surety Law Committee
National LGBT Bar Association, Member
Dallas Association of Young Lawyers, Member
Gulfcoast Fidelity & Surety Law Institute, Member
DFW Association of Young Bankruptcy Lawyers, Member
Dallas Museum of Art, The Junior Associates
State Bar Licenses
Court Admissions
Experience
- Defense verdict in a jury trial in the Southern District of Texas, Galveston Division.
This performance bond case was brought by the owner of an oil processing facility against the surety on a performance bond relating to the engineering and construction of an oil distillation unit. Damages sought against the surety exceeded $75,000,000.00. - Defense verdict in a jury trial in 154th District Court of Lamb County, Texas. This performance bond case was brought by the general contractor against the surety on a subcontractor’s performance bond relating to the construction of a dairy processing facility. Damages sought against the surety exceeded $600,000.00.
- Representation of sureties in disputes involving obligations relating to payment, performance, and miscellaneous bonds.
- Representation of sureties in indemnity actions and general collection efforts.
- Representation of national restaurant owner/operator in commercial lease dispute with landlord.
- Represented national insurer in complex multi-party federal and state litigation in Mississippi arising from premium finance fraud perpetrated by insurance agent.
- Representation of sureties in highway and public works construction disputes.
- Representation of post-tensioning company in foundation defect disputes.
- Representation of home owners in residential construction disputes.
- Representation of sureties in probate bond surcharge disputes.
- Representation of sureties in supersedes bond and other miscellaneous bond disputes.
- Bells and Whistles: The Modern General Agreement of Indemnity, ABA Tort Trial & Insurance Practice, Mid-Winter Meeting of the Fidelity & Surety Law Committee, Washington, DC (January 2023)
- Insurance for the Surety, ABA Tort Trial & Insurance Practice, Mid-Winter Meeting of the Fidelity & Surety Law Committee, Nashville, TN (January 2022)
- Vital Signs of a Healthy Contractor, ABA Tort Trial & Insurance Practice, Mid-Winter Meeting of the Fidelity & Surety Law Committee, New York, NY (January 2020)
- Program Co-Chair, Vital Signs of a Healthy Contractor, ABA Tort Trial & Insurance Practice, Mid-Winter Meeting of the Fidelity & Surety Law Committee, New York, NY (January 2020)
- Seas the Day: Protecting Communications with Consultants, Gulfcoast Fidelity & Surety Institute (June 2018)
- Legal and Ethical Issues Faced by Sureties and Fidelity Insurers, Zurich CE-CLE Presentation (October 2016)
- Surety’s Overpayment Defense, Zurich’s CE-CLE Extravaganza (October 2013)
- Recent Changes to Laws Affecting the Texas Surety and Construction Industry: Waiver and Release, Retainage, Attorneys’ Fees and Indemnification Clauses, Client Presentation (March 2012)
Publications
- Chapter Author. Complementary Provisions of the Indemnity Agreement, Ch. 8, The Surety’s Indemnity Agreement: Law and Practice, Third Ed. (2023)
- Insurance for the Surety, ABA Tort Trial & Insurance Practice, Mid-Winter Meeting of the Fidelity & Surety Law Committee, Nashville, TN (January 2022)
- Fidelity Law and Commercial Surety Law Update, Surety Claims Institute (June 2021)
- Seas the Day: Protecting Communications with Consultants, Gulfcoast Fidelity & Surety (June 2018)
- Limitations on Contractor’s Right Of Set-Off, American Bar Association’s Fidelity and Surety Law Committee Newsletter (Spring 2017)
- Protecting Communications with Surety Consultant, 27th Annual Northeast Surety and Fidelity Claims Conference (September 2016)
- Protection of the Penal Sum by the Takeover Surety, Gulfcoast Fidelity & Surety Institute (May 2015)
- Whose Fault Is It Anyway?: An Overview of Liabilities for Design Defects on Construction Projects, Gulfcoast Fidelity & Surety Institute (May/June 2014)
- First Lien/Second Lien Intercreditor Agreements, 30th Annual Jay L. Westbrook Bankruptcy Conference (November 2011)