Partner

makowski@pkmtexas.com
         
713.658.1111      (Tel.)
713.299.7675      (Cell)
713.658.8253      (Fax)

Chester J. Makowski, founding partner, was born in El Paso, Texas in 1963.  In 1984 he received his B.A. (magna cum laude) from the University of St. Thomas, and in 1991 he received his J.D. (magna cum laude) from the University of Houston Law Center where he was a member of the Order of the Barons and Order of the Coif.  After completing his law school education, Chester served as briefing attorney during the 1991-92 judicial term to the Honorable Thomas R. Phillips, Chief Justice of the Texas Supreme Court.  He concentrates his practice in the areas of insurance coverage and appellate law. 

Chester has extensive experience in standard form and manuscript policies in the following areas: commercial general liability policies (both primary and excess), umbrella coverage, aviation, marine, hull and machinery, protection and indemnity coverage, directors and officers and professional liability.

Chester has over seventy-five (75) published opinions in numerous fields of the law including: 

• Insurance/Bad Faith -- Pride Transp. v. Continental Cas. Co., --- F. Supp. 2d ----, 2011 WL 1197306 (N.D. Tex. 2011)
  

• Insurance/Co-Insurance -- Willbros RPI, Inc. v. Continental Casualty Co., 601 F.3d 306 (5^th Cir. 2010)

• Products liability -- A.O. Smith Corp. v. Elbi S.P.A., 123 Fed. Appx. 617, 2005 U.S. App. LEXIS 3078, 56 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. 2d (Callaghan) 360 (5^th Cir. 2005)

• Employment/Arbitration Agreement -- J.M. Davidson, Inc. v. Webster, 128 S.W.3d 223 (Tex. 2003)

• Daubert/Robinson Issues -- Coastal Tankships, U.S.A., Inc. v. Anderson, 87 S.W.3d 591 (Tex. App.–Houston [1st Dist.] 2002, pet. denied)

• Intellectual Property/Seizure -- Waco International, Inc. v. KHK Scaffolding Houston, Inc., 278 F.3d 523 (5^th Cir. 2002)(a case of first impression regarding the Lanham Act’s wrongful seizure provision)

• Intellectual Property/Doctrine of Foreign Equivalents -- Enrique Bernat F., S.A. v. Guadalajara, Inc., 210 F.3d 439 (5^th Cir. 2000)

• Texas Oilfield Anti-Indemnity Act -- Ken Petroleum Corp. v. Questor Drilling Corp., 24 S.W.3d 344 (Tex. 2000)

• Admiralty/Foreign Settlement Agreements -- Afram Carriers, Inc. v. Moeykens, 145 F.3d 298 (5^th Cir. 1998), cert. denied, 525 U.S. 1141 (1999)

• Admiralty/Federal Arbitration Act -- Fedmet Corp. v. M/V Buyalyk, 194 F.3d 674 (5^th Cir. 1999)

• Constitutional Law/First Amendment -- In re Bay Area Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse, 982 S.W.2d 371 (Tex. 1998)(involving the U.S. Constitution's protection of membership lists under the First Amendment)
  

• Insurance/Bad Faith -- Pride Transp. v. Continental Cas. Co., 804 F. Supp. 2d 520 (N.D. Tex. 2011), aff’d, 511 Fed. Appx. 347 (5th Cir. 2013) 
  

• Indemnity Agreements and Additional Insured Status in Master Service Agreements -- Ironshore Specialty Ins. Co. v. Aspen Underwriting, Ltd., 40 F. Supp. 3d 807, (W.D. Tex. 2014), aff’d, 788 F.3d 456 (5^th Cir. 2015)

Recent Articles

• What Do You Do with the Sunken Vessel?  The Basics of Wreck Removal,  Onstream, The Energy Newsletter of Xchanging (3d ed.) February 2012, pp. 14-19   

• Texas, 1991
  

• U.S. District Courts for the Southern, Northern, and Eastern Districts of Texas
  

• U.S. Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit
  

• U.S. Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit
  

• U.S. Supreme Court

Education

• University of Houston, J.D., magna cum laude, 1991; Order of The Coif; Order of The Barons  

• Briefing Attorney to Chief Justice Thomas R. Phillips of the Supreme Court of Texas, 1991-1992

• Speaks Polish and Spanish; reads Koine Greek and Classical Latin

• Received Martindale-Hubbell’s highest AV® Preeminent Rating™

Memberships

• State Bar of Texas
  

Contact Information:

makowski@pkmtexas.com
         
713.658.1111      (Tel.)
713.299.7675      (Cell)
713.658.8253      (Fax)