Katherine “Kat” Mendiola Wyatt represents individuals, businesses, and insurers in high-exposure litigation, including catastrophic auto and trucking accidents, premises liability claims, construction defect disputes, and commercial cases. She is a trial lawyer who handles cases from the initial evaluation through verdict.
Kat manages a general liability docket of as many as 150 matters in state and federal courts throughout Texas. She is admitted to practice in all four federal districts in the state. Over the past two years, she has resolved more than 350 litigation files both informally and through mediation.
Before joining Skelton & Woody, Kat practiced at Germer Beaman & Brown, where she defended catastrophic auto and trucking claims, premises liability suits, and construction defect matters and MDL cases for several of the nation’s largest insurers. She represented contractors, subcontractors, design professionals, and developers in commercial construction disputes involving indemnity, breach of contract, and express and implied warranties.
Before becoming licensed, she served as Articles Editor of the Texas Tech Law Review, clerked for the Thirteenth Court of Appeals, and worked in the Texas House of Representatives during the 82nd and 85th legislative sessions.
When she is not practicing law, Kat can usually be found training to run sub-seven-minute miles at the next Austin Half Marathon—thanks in no small part to her two little girls she chases around Austin.
Representative Experience
- Obtained first-chair defense verdicts in multiple personal injury jury trials in Texas district courts.
- Served as second-chair in additional personal injury jury trials.
- Handled a breach-of-contract and complex business dispute as sole counsel through bench trial.
- Obtained dispositive and favorable discovery rulings in Texas state and federal courts.
- Defended a motor carrier and its driver in litigation arising from a multi-vehicle collision involving a commercial tractor-trailer, resolving the claim below the plaintiff’s pre-suit demand.
- Defended a commercial motor carrier and its driver in a wrongful-death action arising from a fatal collision and resolved the case before mediation.
- Obtained summary judgment for a business owner in a premises liability suit.
- Defended subcontractors in multiparty construction defect litigation and obtained early dismissals.
Practice Areas
- Trucking and Commercial Motor Vehicle Litigation
- Catastrophic Personal Injury Defense
- Premises Liability
- General Liability and Insurance Defense
- Uninsured and Underinsured Motorist Litigation
- Construction Defect Litigation
- Commercial and Business Litigation
Professional Activities
- Austin Bar Association — Co-Chair, Continuing Legal Education Committee
- Austin Bar Association, Insurance Law Section — Board of Directors; Event Co-Chair
- Austin Young Lawyers – CLE Commitee
- Travis County Women Lawyers Association – Events Committee
- Presenter and author, Negotiating with the Adjuster: Practical Insights into Claim Evaluation, The University of Texas School of Law, 2026 Car Crash Seminar
Awards
Dale Carnegie Certificate of Achievement, 2024
