Donnie Mike Apodaca, II

Member

Recent News:

Best Lawyers Honors More Than 200 Cozen O'Connor Attorneys in its Best Lawyers in America 2025 Edition

Best Lawyers selected 242 Cozen O’Connor lawyers from 24 of the firm’s U.S. offices for inclusion in the 2025 edition of The Best Lawyers in America and Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch in America.

Donnie focuses his practice on insurance coverage and complex litigation. He has substantial experience in multi-party litigation in state and federal courts. He has handled actions involving claims for breach of contract and warranty, indemnity, violations of consumer protection statutes, fraud, bad faith, and business torts.

Donnie regularly defends insurance carriers and adjusters in first-party insurance disputes and bad faith litigation. He also advises clients on insurance policy interpretation and appraisal process.

Additionally, Donnie has represented individuals and clients in business litigation, catastrophic injury cases, and product liability actions. He has experience in discovery-heavy litigation, including class action and multi-district litigation. He has managed e-discovery projects, implemented procedures for collecting and producing electronically stored information, and drafted e-discovery protocols.

Donnie earned his law degree cum laude from SMU Dedman School of Law. During law school, he was a legal intern at the Innocence Project of Texas and a member of the Phi Alpha Delta legal fraternity. He received his bachelor's degree in finance with honors from New Mexico State University. At New Mexico University, Donnie served as a member of the student Senate.

Experience

News

Best Lawyers Honors More Than 200 Cozen O'Connor Attorneys in its Best Lawyers in America 2025 Edition

August 15, 2024

Best Lawyers selected 242 Cozen O’Connor lawyers from 24 of the firm’s U.S. offices for inclusion in the 2025 edition of The Best Lawyers in America and Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch in America.

Best Lawyers Honors More Than 200 Cozen O'Connor Attorneys to its Best Lawyers in America 2024 Edition

August 17, 2023

Best Lawyers selected 232 Cozen O’Connor lawyers from 24 of the firm’s U.S. offices for inclusion in the 2024 edition of The Best Lawyers in America.

More Than 200 Cozen O’Connor Attorneys Named Best Lawyers and Ones to Watch

August 22, 2022

210 Cozen O’Connor lawyers from 24 of the firm’s nationwide offices for inclusion in the 2023 edition of The Best Lawyers in America.

More Than 205 Cozen O’Connor Attorneys Named Best Lawyers and Ones to Watch By The Best Lawyers In America

August 19, 2021

Best Lawyers selected 210 Cozen O’Connor lawyers from 23 of the firm’s nationwide offices for inclusion in the 2022 edition of The Best Lawyers in America.

Cozen O’Connor Promotes 15 Attorneys to Member

March 25, 2021

Cozen O'Connor promoted 15 attorneys to member: Donnie Apodaca, Brian Burack, Jason Cabrera, Kristina Cherevas, Jonathan Gale, Matthew Glavin, Yehudah Gordon, Max Kaplan, Jason Kreps, Anna Will Kentz, Daniel Levine, Peter Lim, Matthew Policastro Laura Reinhart, and Danielle Sapega.

200 Cozen O’Connor Attorneys Named Best Lawyers and Ones to Watch By The Best Lawyers In America

August 20, 2020

Best Lawyers selected 200 Cozen O’Connor lawyers from 23 of the firm’s nationwide offices for inclusion in the 2021 edition of The Best Lawyers in America© (Copyright 2020 by Woodward/White, Inc., of Aiken, SC).

Publications

Texas Court of Appeals Adds Confusion to Post-Appraisal Litigation Under the TPPCA [Property Insurance Law Observer Blog]

August 30, 2022

Ever since the Texas Supreme Court changed the landscape of Texas law regarding appraisal in Barbara Technologies Corp. v. State Farm Lloyds, 589 S.W.3d 806 (Tex. 2019) and Ortiz v. State Farm Lloyds, 589 S.W.3d 127 (Tex. 2019), practitioners and courts have been struggling to apply the Texas...

Texas Supreme Court Axes Policyholder’s Attempt to Expand Insurer Tort Liability [Avoiding Insurance Bad Faith Blog]

June 28, 2022

In Elephant Insurance Co., LLC v. Kenyon, the Supreme Court of Texas reiterated the framework of an insurer’s common-law duties to insureds under Texas law.[1] In applying that framework to the facts of the case, the Court rejected an attempt to expand an insurer’s obligations under existing...

New Statute May Spell Trouble for New Jersey Insurers [Avoiding Insurance Bad Faith Blog]

January 26, 2022

On January 19, 2022, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy signed S.B. 1559, known as the “New Jersey Insurance Fair Conduct Act,” which allows motorists to sue their insurance companies over “unreasonably” late or denied coverage benefits and unfair settlement practices. The bill, passing through both...

Business Interruption Insurance: Post-Pandemic Litigation Developments [Practical Guidance]

January 18, 2022

Donnie Apodaca contributed a practice note in LexisNexis Practical Guidance.

Federal Court Holds that the Voluntary Payment of an Appraisal Award Plus Penalty Interest Defeats TPPCA Claims Under Texas Law [Property Insurance Law Observer Blog]

November 15, 2021

In 2019, the Supreme Court of Texas issued a pair of decisions that allowed policyholders to prosecute claims under the Texas Prompt Payment of Claims Act (“TPPCA”) even after the insurers paid appraisal awards. The decisions were a modification of law and so post-appraisal litigation has and...

The Supreme Court of Texas Finds that a Reasonable Payment of an Insurance Claim Does Not Satisfy the Texas Prompt Payment of Claims Act [Property Insurance Law Observer Blog]

April 09, 2021

In Hinojos v. State Farm Lloyds, the Supreme Court of Texas addressed liability under the Texas Prompt Payment of Claims Act (the “TPPCA”) when an insurer timely pays only part of a claim.[1] As demonstrated in Hinojos, disputes as to TPPCA liability typically arise in the context of appraisal and...

Education

  • SMU Dedman School of Law, J.D., cum laude, 2012
  • New Mexico State University, B.B.A.

Awards & Honors

Best Lawyers in America, "Ones to Watch" 2022 - 2025

  • Texas
  • U.S. District Court -- Northern District of Texas
  • U.S. District Court -- Eastern District of Texas
  • U.S. District Court -- Southern District of Texas
  • U.S. District Court -- Western District of Texas
  • U.S. District Court -- Eastern District of Oklahoma
  • U.S. District Court -- Western District of Oklahoma
  • U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit