Treloar, Joseph W.

Terry Topham is Of Counsel to the Firm.  He was admitted to the Texas Bar in 1965 and is licensed to practice before the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.  He was educated at the University of Texas (BA, 1959), served as a Lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps from 1959-1962, and graduated from St. Mary's School of Law (JD, 1965).

He is a member of the San Antonio and American Bar Associations, the State Bar of Texas, the Texas Association of Defense Counsel and a Fellow of the Texas Bar Foundation.  Mr. Topham is a past director of the San Antonio Bar Association.

Mr. Topham has practiced law for 42 years and specialized in litigation for over 25 years with extensive experience in state and federal courts. Trial matters he has handled include commercial, condemnation, consumer, insurance defense including professional malpractice, insurance bad faith and coverage representation, construction and general civil litigation.  Municipal and governmental entity representation by Mr. Topham includes:

a) Representation of the City of San Antonio, Bexar County, City Public Service & other public entities in condemnation cases.  He represented Bexar County in an important case for condemnors concerning access and special damages to undeveloped land in County of Bexar vs. John L. Santikos, 144 S.W. 3rd 455 (Tex 2004).  In Santikos, the court denied the landowner's claim of "unsafe access" as to the subject 27 acre undeveloped property, in part because there were no businesses, homes, or driveways on the property.  the decision also held that any damages resulting from leaving unimproved, raw land in its natural state while raising or lowering an adjacent roadbed in hilly terrain are community damages and not compensable.

b) Insurance defense representation of municipalities, counties and school districts involving claims under the Tort Claims Act and defense of payment and performance bond claims.

c) In connection with Davidson & Troilo's service as general counsel and attorney for the San Antonio Water System and other municipalities, Mr. Topham has handled various types of litigation with third parties and other governmental agencies.