Lipscher v. Western Healthcare, LLC — 192nd Judicial District Court, Dallas County, Texas
DALLAS, Tex. — [August 26, 2026] — A Dallas County jury returned a complete defense verdict in favor of Western Healthcare, LLC on August 25, 2026, rejecting a $200,000 breach-of-contract claim after less than seven minutes of deliberation.
The case, Randolph Lipscher, M.D. v. Western Healthcare, LLC, Cause No. DC-24-09786, was tried before Judge Maria Aceves in the 192nd Judicial District Court of Dallas County. The plaintiff, a physician, contracted with Western Healthcare — a national medical staffing company — for a COVID and disaster-relief assignment at a Laredo, Texas hospital. After the hospital asked that he be removed from the facility in March 2021, Western Healthcare ended the assignment. The plaintiff claimed the termination was without cause and without the contractual notice period and sought the full $200,000 he said the assignment was worth, plus attorney’s fees.
Cunningham Swaim relished the chance to try the case on the contract. The parties’ Independent Contractor Agreement allowed Western Healthcare to terminate the assignment at its sole discretion if the client hospital requested the physician’s removal for reasons of professional incompetency or misconduct and limited his compensation to services actually performed. The jury no breach of the contract, and the plaintiff was awarded absolutely nothing.
The defense was tried by David Denny of Cunningham Swaim, LLP.
The verdict is the firm’s second complete defense verdict in 25 days. On July 31, 2026, a federal jury in Lafayette, Louisiana returned a full defense verdict for Westwind Helicopters in Romero v. Westwind Helicopters, No. 6:23-442 (W.D. La.), rejecting a $42 million demand after 37 minutes — a case tried by Ross Cunningham and David Denny. Denny tried both cases: a catastrophic-injury helicopter case in federal court in Louisiana, and a commercial contract case in Texas state court, twenty-five days apart.
Ross Cunningham — “two defense verdicts in twenty-five days, and the two cases had nothing in common. We took a helicopter crash to a federal jury in Lafayette, and a hospital contract case to a state jury in Dallas, and neither jury needed an hour. Real trial lawyers are made by trying cases, not by talking about it. Two jury trials in less than a month – that’s the whole idea of this firm. We do not have a home courthouse. We go where the case is.”
Multiple Cunningham Swaim partners are members of the American Board of Trial Advocates, an invitation-only organization that admits lawyers on the basis of a verified record of civil jury trials tried to verdict.
About Cunningham Swaim, LLP
Cunningham Swaim, LLP is a trial firm representing clients in aviation, insurance defense, business, and catastrophic injury litigation, with offices in Texas, California, Colorado, New York, and Utah. The firm’s aviation practice specializes in catastrophic wrongful death and personal injury trials, product liability, and insurance coverage.
