Providing you with holistic guidance, results and peace of mind.
Biography
Wayne D. Collins-born in Beaumont, Texas, August 11, 1971. 8th generation Texan raised in Deer Park, Texas, and graduated from Deer Park High School in 1989. Wayne graduated from the University of Houston, with a B.S. in Political Science and honors, in 1993. Wayne received his J.D. from South Texas College of Law in 1996.
In 1996, Wayne's practice began in civil defense litigation with a focus on environmental, toxic tort, wrongful death, and oil and gas matters. Within five years, the focus to plaintiff civil litigation-environmental exposure, plant explosion, wrongful death, personal injury, employment, and business litigation. In 2000, at the age of 29, Wayne obtained the largest settlement ($5.15 million) in Hardin County, Texas history for a widower and his 6 young children, whose wife was taken by a drunk driver in a company vehicle. His first jury trial, in 2001, was a commercial fraud suit against the Koch Brothers, in which he obtained a $9.6 million verdict for the Plaintiff in Dallas County. At the time, it was the largest single-Plaintiff verdict in Dallas County History. In 2002, Wayne served as lead counsel in a securities fraud case to jury in Alexandria, Virginia and obtained a $177 million verdict, which is the largest verdict in Virginia history and the 11th largest in the nation for the year 2002. Since that time, Wayne has tried and resolved hundreds of matters, including BP explosion cases and other multi-million-dollar settlements and verdicts. Wayne's practice spans from environmental/toxic tort, commercial, oil and gas, maritime, wrongful death, catastrophic injury, explosion litigation to high level civil rights and employment matters.
Roy Elizondo and Wayne Collins have now formed Collins & Elizondo, building a lasting legacy in the Texas legal community.
Wayne is married to Jocelyn Collins and have three children, daughter 22 (accounting major at Texas A&M), son 18 (engineering major Texas A&M), and daughter 16 (sophomore in high school).
Practice Areas
- Personal Injury
- Motor Vehicle Accidents
- Workplace & Construction Accidents
- Premises Liability & Animal Injuries
- Railroad Accidents
- Aviation Accidents
- Business & Commercial Litigation
- Business Transactions & Contracts
Bar Admissions
- Texas, 1996
- Colorado
- U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, pro hac vice
- Kentucky
- Arkansas
- California
Education
- South Texas College of Law, Houston, Texas
- Doctorate of Jurisprudence - 1996
- University of Houston
- Bachelor of Science - 1993
- Honors: With Honors
- Major: Political Science
Representative Cases
- Mike Ferrel v. Koch Industries, Inc.
- Joan Andrews et al. v. Primus Telecommunications
- Estate of Floyd Wilson v. Leonocio Espaillait
- Richard Levens v. Lloyd Gillespie
- Bedard, et al v. British Petroleum
- Alejandro Figueroa, et al v. Cives Steel Corp., et al
- Alejandro Benavidez v. Railserve, Inc.
- Michael Harnois v. Cemex, Inc.
- Teofilo Oyervidez v. Paucheco Transportation, Inc.
- Chad Harrison v. TMC Holdings, Inc.
- Casados v. Grain Elevator Inc.
- Douglas Shows, et al. v. Steinhagen Oil
- Patton v. Galveston County (Sheriff’s Department)
- Walker v. City of Beasly
- Mark Collins v. ICO, Inc.
- Crawford. v. Gilman Acura, Inc.
- Linda Wells
- Landry Cravens et. al. v. Chevron, Inc.
- Harris v. Campbell Concrete Company
- Whynot v. Vetro
- Andrews v. Financial Company
- Ahmadi, et al v. Lennar Homes
- Aust v. Conroe I.S.D., 153 S.W.3d 222, 2004, Tex. App.-Beaumont
- Danny Tarkington, et al v. Whitehead Oil
- Cristal Leist v. GHG, Inc.
- Danny Hopper v. M/V Singapore, et al.
- Michael Hernandez v. B J Well Services
- Lori Smith v. Sparkman Industries, Inc.