A recent Law 360 story by Michelle Casady, “RI Atty Must Face Fee Dispute Suit in Texas, Court Affirms,” reports that Texas' Fifth Court of Appeals affirmed a trial court's ruling in a fight between two plaintiffs firms, holding a Rhode Island-based attorney and his firm will have to face litigation in Texas stemming from a fee-sharing agreement with a Texas attorney and his firm.

John E. Deaton and Deaton Law Firm LLC had argued the trial court wrongly refused to dismiss him and his firm from the dispute with Texas attorney Steven M. Johnson and his firm, Steven M. Johnson PC.  Deaton, who served as local counsel for Johnson's firm in multidistrict litigation over alleged injuries from hernia mesh made by C.D. Bard Inc. subsidiary Davol Inc., argued he shouldn't have to litigate the fee dispute in Texas.

Johnson — who negotiated a global settlement for nearly 200 mesh cases the lawyers had worked on together — had argued that when Deaton signed a stipulation of nondisclosure related to the settlement amounts for Johnson's clients, Deaton became bound by the terms of the underlying attorney representation agreements Johnson signed with his clients, which stated disputes would be arbitrated in Texas.  That includes the agreement with Louisiana resident Rickie Patton, he argued.

Deaton, who argued his role in the case is defined by his fee-sharing agreements with Johnson that contain no arbitration clause, has claimed Johnson failed to pay him 5 to 10 percent of fees earned as part of the global settlement Johnson negotiated.

The Fifth Court of Appeals held that all of the Johnson law firm attorney representation agreements, including the one with Patton, contained clauses that disputes would be arbitrated in Texas.  The court rejected Deaton's argument that he wasn't a signatory to Patton's attorney representation agreement.

“We conclude that, by undertaking to represent Patton as 'associate counsel' under the attorney representation agreement and reaffirming his status by signing the stipulation as to nondisclosure, Deaton consented to personal jurisdiction in Texas under the terms of the attorney representation agreement,” the court wrote.

Deaton served as local counsel on 174 hernia mesh cases for Johnson in Rhode Island state court over a period of eight to 10 years, and worked on one case, Patton's, in federal court.  That case was initially filed in the Southern District of Texas but was transferred to Rhode Island District Court for pretrial proceedings.  Deaton hired a Texas expert witness for the Patton case, which would have been tried in Texas had it not been for the global settlement.

In oral arguments before the appellate court in May, an attorney for Deaton said while he had recommended the expert, it was Johnson who hired and paid the witness and Deaton never visited Texas during that time.

But Johnson's attorney told the panel Deaton spent eight years working on a Texas federal case, establishing jurisdiction in Texas for the fee dispute.  Although the Patton case's original pretrial proceedings were in Rhode Island, Deaton's pretrial work was all aimed at a trial in Texas, and he had availed himself of the protections of the state.