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The Firm publishes selected articles, firm updates, publications, and litigation materials involving legal, property, tax, business, and technical issues.
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The Wall Street Journal and Houston Chronicle have featured the 4233 Two Gun Way estate in Katy. The Overton Law Firm, P.C. assisted Michael and Angela Cohen with title work, the Fort Bend County private-street name-change process, and related construction-contract, builder, and MUD-district issues.
Read firm update →The firm represented an heir in a Louisiana concursus proceeding involving competing claims to property. The litigation involved extensive motion practice, while the firm’s principal focus was establishing the validity and effect of a 1925 tax sale and proving the client’s title to the property.
Following earlier appellate proceedings, the parties filed motions for summary judgment. The trial court granted summary judgment for the Mayronne Group. The trial court found Waterman v. Tidewater Assoc. Oil Co., 213 La. 588 (1947) controlling and concluded that the title and possession issues identified in the earlier proceedings had been resolved. The Court of Appeal affirmed and held that the 1925 tax sale was an absolute nullity under Waterman.
In an earlier stage of the same litigation, the Supreme Court of Louisiana concluded that Mennonite could not apply retroactively to have the 1925 tax sale declared an absolute nullity. The Court found Gulotta v. Cutshaw, 283 So. 2d 482 (La. 1973) dispositive of the lack-of-notice issue. Under Gulotta, lack of notice to the record owner in a tax sale creates a relative nullity. A relative nullity does not prevent the running of the peremptive period and therefore could not support summary judgment invalidating the tax sale.
The Court of Appeal had previously affirmed the trial court’s summary judgment for the Mayronne Group because there was no evidence that the Sheriff gave notice of the 1925 tax sale to the record owner. The Court held that the lack of notice violated constitutional due-process requirements and rendered the sale an absolute nullity under Mennonite Board of Missions v. Adams, 462 U.S. 791 (1983). The Louisiana Supreme Court subsequently addressed that holding in the decision above.
The firm represented Thomas Anthony Preli Sr. and Preli Constructors, Inc. in a residential drainage and property-damage lawsuit. The firm assisted the clients in obtaining insurance coverage and worked with defense counsel throughout the litigation. The defense obtained a directed verdict dismissing all of the plaintiffs’ claims, and the Ninth Court of Appeals affirmed the judgment.
The homeowners asserted claims under Texas Water Code § 11.086 and for negligence, nuisance, and trespass, alleging that construction of an elevated building pad altered the natural flow of surface water and caused runoff that damaged their residence, flooring, deck, pool, and yard.
The Court held that the homeowners failed to present legally sufficient evidence that runoff from Preli’s property caused the claimed damage. Applying Tenaris Bay City Inc. v. Ellisor, 718 S.W.3d 193 (Tex. 2025), the Court concluded that the homeowners’ causation expert did not perform the hydrological analysis, foundation-level measurements, or other scientific testing necessary to establish but-for causation and did not adequately exclude other plausible causes of the alleged foundation movement and flooring damage.
The Court separately held that the homeowners failed to prove that their repair estimates represented reasonable and necessary repair costs. Because the causation and damages rulings were dispositive, the Court affirmed the trial court’s judgment in favor of Preli without reaching the remaining appellate issues.