Justice delayed is justice denied. Courthouse doors across the country were shuttered for jury trials during most of 2020 and 2021. Despite the significant hurdle, Daniel J.T. Sciano and his team worked tirelessly toward the goal of voluntary or involuntary resolution of his clients’ cases during this time. When the doors reopened, Daniel J.T. Sciano was one of the first to return to the Federal and State Court House arenas to seek justice for his clients. Sciano was part of a team of lawyers who tried a multi-party, Federal Tort Claims Act case to judgment against the United States of America related to the government’s neglect that resulted in Texas’ largest mass shooting: 26 fatalities and 22 wounded at the Sutherland Springs First Baptist Church.
The Federal District Court trial was bifurcated into liability and damages phases. In between phases, Sciano, and other members of his firm, seamlessly pivoted, and tried to a jury and obtained a judgement for his client in a State District Court in Cameron County, Texas. The victim in that case was a 75-year-old woman that was a passenger in a pick-up that was struck head-on by a company vehicle operated by what the jury found was a grossly negligent driver. The jury also found that the company was reckless in employing the driver who had a history of accidents, and was a habitual speeder, texter, and talker while driving.
While in the midst of those two complex trials, he was able to voluntarily resolve a case in Wisconsin State Circuit Court for a client that was catastrophically burned due to a negligently maintained farm tractor when fuel erupted from the gas tank, ignited, and engulfed the operator in flames.
The range of cases Sciano has litigated and been lead counsel on over his 40 years of practice is diverse. Consumer product liability claims involving home appliances, fireworks injuries, flammable garment claims, swimming pool injuries and fatalities, claims of inadequate security, premises liability, plane and train crashes, carbon monoxide poisoning, truck and automobile accidents, construction site and oil filed injuries and fatalities, fiduciary litigation, oil and gas royalty litigation, will contests and inheritance controversies, and insurance and business disputes represent an abridged list of the types of claims and cases Sciano has resolved on behalf of his clients either voluntarily or involuntarily.
Sciano is also not afraid to get dirty in his search for justice for his clients. He recently found himself in a cemetery, helping an anthropologist in exhumations to recover DNA evidence from two grave sites to help resolve a dispute involving the identity of lawful heirs to a substantial estate.
Sciano, who Best Lawyers® recognized as a San Antonio “Lawyer of the Year” in 2010 and 2012 for Personal Injury Litigation–Plaintiffs, adds that will and estates litigation is representative of the diversity of cases that he and the lawyers of Tinsman & Sciano are equipped to handle. Sciano and the firm of Tinsman &
Sciano built a reputation as highly skilled trial lawyers and have secured significant verdicts, judgments, and settlements in catastrophic injury, trucking litigation, and wrongful death matters, among others.
The firm continues to represent victims of defective products or as a result of neglect who have sustained nearly every type of injury, in addition to clients involved in a wide array of civil litigation in need of experienced trial lawyers. “Lawsuits are, by their very nature, chaotic and require a skilled and experienced trial practitioner with strong hand on the helm,” Sciano notes. “We want every client that seeks justice to know they have a fighter in their corner, no matter where that corner is, nor how dire the situation may seem.”
Justin Smulison is a professional writer who regularly contributes to Best Lawyers. He was previously a reporter for the New York Law Journal and also led content and production for the Custom Projects Group at ALM Media. In addition to his various credited and uncredited writing projects, he has developed global audiences hosting and producing podcasts and audio interviews for professional organizations and music sites. JustinSmulison.contently.com
