A recent Law 360 story by Michelle Casady, “Texas Atty Sues Firm Over Slice of Possible Million Dollar Pie,” reports that a Houston-area lawyer has sued his former firm Walne Law PLLC for allegedly violating a fee agreement and denying his right to a share of fees from an underlying contract dispute that could yield millions of dollars in damages.
Andrew Raish, who now works in the legal department for Texas convenience store chain Buc-ee's, alleges in his Sept. 8 petition in Texas court that when he started at Walne Law in August 2013, he entered into an agreement with principal Tracy Walne where Raish would receive 75 percent of the resulting fees if he did the work for clients and 25 percent of the resulting fees if other lawyers at Walne Law or elsewhere did the work.
In September 2014, Raish allegedly brought Charles Dresser IV and Highmark Production Co. LLC to the firm as clients and performed work for them on oil and gas transactional matters and in a commercial dispute. On the Dresser commercial case, Raish worked closely with Tracy Walne's son, Kelly Walne, and determined Dresser would be better served by teaming up with a larger law firm, Porter Hedges LLP, the petition says.
Raish left Walne Law in July 2015 but was assured by Tracy Walne that the fee agreement would continue to apply to the Dresser case even after his departure, and Walne's son left the firm a few months later to start his own firm, according to the petition.
“Upon information and belief, Kelly Walne negotiated with Tracy Walne for Walne Law to terminate its representation of Dresser on the Dresser matter so Kelly Walne alone could engage and represent Dresser and attempt to secure the anticipated fee from the Dresser matter for himself alone,” the petition alleges. “To that end, and unbeknownst to Raish, defendant drafted a termination letter. The termination letter purports to 'confirm' the termination of Dresser as a client of Walne Law and the understanding that Dresser intends to engage Kelly Walne as separate legal counsel to pursue the Dresser matter.”
Raish alleges that once he found out Kelly Walne was handling the Dresser matter, he contacted Walne Law to confirm it intended to honor the agreement to pay Raish 25 percent of any fee collected on the Dresser matter. The firm indicated it would not and “did not believe Raish had any interest in the Dresser matter," the petition says.
The case is Raish v. Walne Law PLLC, case number 2017-58913, in the 11th Judicial District Court of Harris County, Texas.
Texas Attorney Sues Former Firm Over His Share of Fees
September 18, 2017 | Posted in : Contingency Fees / POF, Fee Agreement, Fee Allocation / Fee Apportionment, Fee Collection, Fee Dispute, Fee Entitlement / Recoverability