Felicia Harris Hoss

In 2021, with court dockets overloaded and the timeline to trial expanding in the wake of COVID, Felicia pivoted her legal practice out of the courtroom and into the conference room as a full-time mediator and arbitrator. Felicia is recognized as a Credentialed Distinguished Mediator (TMCA) and Texas Super Lawyer® in ADR.

As an advocate, Felicia spent more than 20 years trying, arbitrating, and mediating complex commercial and civil cases and is recognized by her peers among the Best Lawyers in America® in commercial litigation. Throughout her career, Felicia represented clients in disputes ranging from bet-the-company, class action, and catastrophic injury, wrongful death, and explosion cases to partnership, trade secret, defamation, employment discrimination, and significant contract and fraud disputes. While the vast majority of Felicia’s clients worked in the energy/oil and gas industry, Felicia also represented clients in the healthcare, maritime, petrochemical, industrial services, disaster recovery, real estate, HOA/COA, government relations, financial services, managed cloud services, construction, manufacturing, securities, and consumer credit services industries.

As a neutral, Felicia mediates and arbitrates disputes for parties engaged in these industries, as well as others such as homeowners and community management, logistics and transportation, first-party insurance, real estate valuation, and professional liability.

Felicia’s approach to mediation starts well before the mediation session. Committed to earning the trust of all participants, Felicia invites each parties’ counsel to talk by phone, video, or in person before the mediation session, and sets aside ample time to review the materials submitted and familiarize herself with the issues, interests, and relevant authorities. During the mediation session, she is curious, engaged, persistent, and committed to helping the parties resolve their disputes in a manner that works for everyone. When a mediation session concludes without resolution, Felicia encourages parties to keep lines of communication open and remains accessible to facilitate continued discussions.

Felicia is often selected by counsel to assist parties through early mediations. To enhance the effectiveness of settlement efforts before a lawsuit, arbitration, or extensive discovery, Felicia meets with counsel and the parties privately to assist them in ascertaining sufficient information from which to objectively assess risks, estimate case value, make informed settlement decisions, and engage in an effective and efficient early mediation session. As co-chair of the ABA Early Dispute Resolution Committee, Felicia was integrally involved in the passage of ABA Resolution 500 urging the voluntary and knowing use of early mediation and is a frequently called-upon speaker and teacher on the topic of EDR.

For over a decade, Felicia served in both elected and appointed positions in the City of Pearland, Texas, which at the time was ranked by Forbes as one of the fastest growing cities in the United States. During her two terms on city council (2006-2012) and as mayor pro tem (2009-2010), Felicia oversaw an annual budget in excess of $100,000,000.00, and was involved in planning, funding, and constructing significant infrastructure and capital improvement projects with public funds and through public-private partnerships.

In her spare time, Felicia enjoys reading, golf, weight training, and riding motorcycles down winding country backroads with her husband, John.

Felicia graduated summa cum laude (first in her class) from South Texas College of Law in Houston. While in law school, Felicia served as an articles editor for the South Texas Law Review and was selected “outstanding female graduate” by her peers. Felicia graduated cum laude from Texas A&M University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism.

Representative Mediation Matters

• Early mediations involving two-party and multi-party claims alleging breach of contract, fraud, fiduciary, construction, Texas DTPA, premises liability, personal injury, and negligence claims.
• Disputes involving the breakup of a business/partnership or separation of a key executive or employee involving breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, tortious interference, interested party transactions (Texas Business Organizations Code), fraud, and conspiracy claims.
• Homeowner and community associations disputes involving allegations of covenant and deed restriction violations and foreclosure actions against property owners, breach of fiduciary duty and ultra vires claims against directors, and negligence and breach of contract against management companies.
• Commercial and residential construction disputes between owners and general contractors and between general contractors and subcontractors involving prompt payment, construction trust funds, breach of contract, fraudulent lien, and negligence claims.
• Land-use disputes between commercial landowners and partition disputes involving competing real property interests.
• Contract disputes involving master service agreements; real estate transactions; buying and selling of commercial assets; commercial leases; first-party insurance coverage; warranty; transportation, trucking, shipping, warehousing, and logistics agreements.
• Single- and multi-party property damage and personal injury disputes involving business-to-business claims and consumer-to-business claims with allegations of premises liability; negligent hiring, training, and retention; and common law negligence on jack-up rigs, construction sites, and at retail locations.

Representative Arbitration Matters

• Panel arbitrator in UAA arbitration of three consolidated lawsuits involving fiduciaries and trust and settlement agreements alleging common law contract, tortious interference, and conspiracy claims.
• Sole arbitrator in commercial arbitration alleging performance and termination violations of management agreements involving breach of contract and breach of duty of good faith and fair dealing claims and seeking declarations.
• Sole arbitrator in commercial arbitration between home health care and hospice companies with competing claims with allegations of breach of contract, common law fraud, and healthcare fraud.
• Sole arbitrator in construction arbitrations involving breach of contract, fraud, Texas DTPA, Texas Residential Construction Liability Act, and warranty claims.
• Sole arbitrator in dispute involving online merchant agreement and claims of discrimination.
• Sole arbitrator in consumer disputes involving auto dealerships, online retailers, and financial services providers.

Other ADR Panels & Affiliations

• American Arbitration Association National Roster of Mediators
• American Arbitration Association National Roster of Arbitrators, Commercial, Energy, Consumer Arbitration Panels
• American Health Law Association, Roster of Arbitrators and Mediators
• Texas Justice Center, Arbitrator and Mediator Registry
• Texas Comptroller Registry of Arbitrators, Property Tax Appraisal Appeals, Arbitrator
• Texas Department of Insurance, Roster of Mediators for TWIA Coverage Disputes
• Harris County Dispute Resolution Center, Board Member, Mediator & Arbitrator
• Early Dispute Resolution Institute, Mediator
• Brazoria County, Special Commissioner (Condemnation Proceedings)

Professional or Trade Affiliations

• Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, fellow
  • North American Branch, Texas Chapter, vice chair communications
• Association of Attorney-Mediators
• Texas Mediator Credentialing Association
  • Board Member, Association of Attorney-Mediators Delegate
• American Bar Association
  • Section of Dispute Resolution, Council Member (2024-2027)
    • 2024 Advanced Mediation & Advocacy Skills Institute, planning committee member
  • Early Dispute Resolution Committee, co-chair (2023-2025)
    • Fellow (2022-2023)
  • Mediation Committee, vice chair (2023-2025)
    • 2022 Mediation Week Program, planning committee chair
  • Arbitration Committee, member
• Houston Bar Association
  • ADR Section, chair (2024-2025), vice-chair (2023-2024), council member (2022-2023)
  • Fee Dispute Committee, co-chair (2023-2025)
  • Professionalism Committee, co-chair (2022-2023)
  • Bench Bar Committee, member (2023-2025)
  • The Houston Lawyer Magazine, editorial board member (2024-2025)
• State Bar of Texas
  • ADR Section, council member (2024-2027)
    • Advanced ADR CLE, planning committee member (2023-2025)
  • Construction Section, member
  • Litigation Section, member
• Brazoria County Bar Association
  • Texas Bar Foundation, fellow