In this edition of litigation roundup, Cokinos Young draws a legal malpractice lawsuit over a land deal, an aviation fueling company is facing a $100 million wrongful death lawsuit over an incident at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport and more than a dozen Texas-based bus companies are sued over the transporting of migrants from the border to New York.
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Harris County District Court
Cokinos Young Sued by Former Client for $4M
The law firm Cokinos Young and its attorney James Ewbank II have been hit with a claim of legal malpractice by a former client accusing them of artificially inflating the cost of a piece of property.
The lawsuit, which also brings claims for breach of fiduciary duty and fraud, was filed Jan. 3 by Black Market Investments, Dawson Overlook and Terry W. Black, who owns Terry Black’s Barbecue. The lawsuit accuses Ewbank of representing the seller of the property as a broker despite the fact that Black’s was being represented at the same time by Cokinos Young and another firm attorney.
According to the lawsuit, Black’s hired Cokinos Young and Stephanie Cook in early 2020 for various legal services, and in March 2022 the company decided to purchase a piece of property and was told by the seller to contact its attorney, Ewbank, according to the lawsuit. Ewbank was to act as broker for the sale and receive a 2 percent commission.
Black made a $10 million offer for the property, and Ewbank initially advised “the seller would move forward with the letter of intent from Terry to purchase the property for $10 million.”
“Shortly thereafter, however, Ewbank made misrepresentations … to get them to increase their offer and to benefit Cokinos’ other client, the seller, and so Ewbank could receive a larger commission,” the lawsuit alleges. “Specifically, Ewbank told the Black family that the seller received ‘unsolicited higher offers’ up to $13 million. On information and belief there were no such legitimate offers.”
But the suit alleges the misrepresentations worked, and Black offered and paid $14 million for the property. Ewbank allegedly requested the Black family sign a waiver of conflict acknowledging Cokinos represented only the seller in the transaction but was told by the firm’s general counsel the conflict could not be waived.
“Although Cokinos publicly withdrew from the transaction, it secretly continued to influence the seller and advance the seller’s interests and the interest of Cokinos,” the suit alleges.
The case has been assigned to Judge Donna Roth.
The plaintiffs are represented by Lance and David Kassab of The Kassab Law Firm.
Counsel for the defendants had not made an appearance as of Monday.
The case number is 2024-00315.
Sexual-Assault Litigation Involving the Southern Baptist Convention Confidentially Settles
Last month a team of lawyers at Baker Botts helped Gareld Duane Rollins Jr. reach confidential settlements bringing an end to the lawsuit he brought in 2017 against the Southern Baptist Convention and others he accused of playing a role in his sexual assault as a child.
District Judge Ravi Sandill signed an order granting Rollins dismissal with prejudice on Dec. 28 in the suit that also named as a defendant H. Paul Pressler III, a former judge who led a Bible study group who Rollins alleged had sexually abused him. Other defendants accused of facilitating or covering up the alleged abuse included the First Baptist Church of Houston, lawyer Jared Woodfill and the Southern Baptist Convention’s executive committee.
Rollins’ lead attorney, Michael Goldberg of Baker Botts, said in a statement he was “proud” of the team for the work they did achieving the settlement.
“From taking on a case that had been dismissed, to making new law allowing us to proceed, to finding the smoking gun documents and to convincing other victims to testify, this was the epitome of turning a losing case to a winner,” he said.
Rollins is also represented by Kevin Jacobs, Travis Gray, Dominic Cruciani and Jacob Wirfel of Baker Botts.
Pressler is represented by Edward Coe Tredennick of Daniels & Tredennick. The Southern Baptist Convention is represented by Jennifer Aufricht of Thompson, Coe, Cousins & Irons. Woodfill is represented by Oliver Jason Brown of The Oliver J. Law Firm.
The case number is 2017-69277.
Travis County District Court
Aviation Fueling Co. Hit with $100M Wrongful Death Suit
Menzies Aviation and an employee of the aviation fueling company have been named in a lawsuit seeking $100 million in damages for the death of a man who was hit by a vehicle and died on the tarmac at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport.
The lawsuit was filed Dec. 28 by the family of Michael Wills against Menzies and the driver of the fuel truck that struck and killed him, Michael Daemon Bowers Jr. According to the suit, Wills was employed by the city of Austin as an airport operations specialist when he was pinned between a vehicle Bowers was driving and another vehicle on the tarmac in October.
“Mr. Wills was screaming in agony and ultimately died as a result of the conduct of the defendants. Decedent was not killed instantly and suffered severe conscious pain and suffering prior to his death,” the suit alleges. “Before EMS arrived, another person working nearby stopped and checked decedent’s pulse and noticed that it was fading, and that decedent was growing pale.”
Sorrels Law, which is representing the Wills family, notably secured in October 2021 the largest actual damages award in U.S. history — $352.7 million — for a worker who was hit by a fueling truck and injured at Bush Intercontinental Airport. The parties in that case reached a confidential settlement after an appeal to the First Court of Appeals in Houston.
The case has been assigned to Judge Aurora Martinez Jones.
The Wills family is represented by Randy Sorrels, Alexandra Farias-Sorrels and Andrea Roth of Sorrels Law and C. Brooks Schuelke of Schuelke Law Firm in Austin.
Counsel information for Menzies Aviation and Bowers was not available Monday.
The case number is D-1-GN-23-009208.
Bexar County District Court
Austin Personal Injury Attorney Accused of Unlawfully Soliciting Clients
A woman who was injured in a car crash has accused an Austin personal injury attorney of unlawfully soliciting her as a client, known as barratry.
Brooke Carpino alleges that minutes after her October crash in San Antonio — while she was traveling to and from an urgent care facility — she received unsolicited phone calls from a company called Texas Crash Resource Center offering to help connect her with attorneys and doctors to ensure she received the best settlement possible from the insurer.
Carpino alleges Texas Crash Resource Center initially declined to identify the attorney it wanted to connect her with but eventually she discovered it was Bryce Carpenter’s law firm after following a link to an attorney-client agreement she received via text message.
“Plaintiff in no way sought out or invited defendants’ solicitations. Plaintiff had not even begun to process the traumatic wreck they had just survived when defendants began to solicit them without their consent,” the suit alleges. “To this day, plaintiff does not know how the defendants were able to obtain plaintiff’s contact information within minutes of the wreck.”
The lawsuit is seeking more than $250,000 in damages.
The case was filed Dec. 19 and has been assigned to Judge Norma Gonzales.
Carpino is represented by Randy Sorrels and David McNeal of Sorrels Law.
Counsel information for Carpenter wasn’t available Monday.
The case number is 2023CI26668.
Northern District of Texas
Neora Seeks Nearly $6 Million in Fees from FTC
Neora is following its historic win against the Federal Trade Commission over claims the direct-selling company was operating an illegal pyramid scheme with a request for $5.88 million in attorneys and expert witness fees and expenses.
The Dec. 27 motion cited the Equal Access to Justice Act and characterized the FTC’s pursuit of Neora as relentless and neither reasonable nor justified. Over the four-year course of the case, Neora has spent over $9 million, according to the motion. The EAJA allows recovery of $125 an hour for attorneys and experts, and Neora is seeking upward inflation-adjusted rates of around $250.
Neora qualifies for the award because its net worth was less than $7 million and it employed fewer than 500 employees when the FTC filed its civil action on Nov. 1, 2019, the motion states.
The skincare and supplement company was cleared in September by U.S. District Judge Barbara M.G. Lynn, who found that Neora’s profits largely come from sales of goods and “do not hinge on the recruitment of new participants” to sell the products.
Ed Burbach, the Foley & Lardner partner who led Neora’s defense at trial, said the ruling was the first time a direct-selling company has defeated pyramid scheme claims in a court trial. He said the fee and expense award, if granted, would be the largest ever awarded against the FTC.
The parties on Jan. 5 filed a joint motion to extend the time for the FTC’s response and Neora’s reply.
Neora is represented by Katrina G. Eash, Dion J. Robbins and Samuel Riebe of Winston & Strawn.
The FTC is represented by Katherine Roller, Rachel Sifuentes and Lisa Bohl.
The case number is 3:20-CV-1979.
Western District of Texas
Dominican Flight Co. Sued for Crash that Killed Nine
Helidosa Aviation Group, an air charter company operating flights into and out of the Dominican Republic, has been sued by the family of one of nine individuals who were killed in a December 2021 plane crash.
A lawsuit was filed Dec. 14 by a representative of the estate of Yeilianys Jeishlimar Melendez Jimenez. She was among the six passengers, two pilots and one flight attendant who died when a Helidosa plane crashed 16 minutes after takeoff while trying to make an emergency landing at Santo-Domingo Las Americas International Airport.
According to the suit, Jimenez and her mother departed on a Helidosa flight from Orlando Dec. 9, 2021, and intended to return six days later.
Before the flight left for Orlando Dec. 15, crew had reported mechanical problems with the aircraft’s ground spoilers and it was towed to a hangar for maintenance that took three hours. Helidosa is accused of failing to remedy issues with the plane’s ground spoilers on the right wing.
“During the initial run up before the flight, the flight crew performed a control check. The spoilers on both wings extended, but only those on the left wing retracted again,” the suit alleges. “The Helidosa flight crew did not correct this unreasonably dangerous condition. They taxied the aircraft for departure with three spoilers on the right wing still extended.”
The aircraft crashed while trying to make an emergency landing.
The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman.
The family is represented by Michael L. Slack and Derek Quick of Slack Davis Sanger.
Helidosa had not retained counsel as of Monday.
The case number is 1:23-cv-01521.
State Supreme Court, New York
13 Texas Bus Companies Draw Suit Over Migrant Transports
The state of New York recently filed a lawsuit against 17 bus companies for their role in transporting migrants from the Texas-Mexico border into the state, and 13 of the companies named are based in Texas.
The lawsuit alleges New York has incurred at least $708 million in expenses caring for the roughly 33,600 individuals transported into the state by the companies. The Texas-based companies named in the suit are: Carduan Tours, Classic Elegance Coaches, Ejecutivo Enterprises, El Paso United Charters, Garcia and Garcia Enterprises, JY Charter Bus, Lily’s Bus Lines, Norteno Express, Roadrunner Charters, Southwest Crew Change Company, Transportes Regiomontanos, VLP Charter and Wynne Transportation.
The suit accuses the companies of making a significant profit on the trips — about $1,650 per person as opposed to the usual fee of $291 for a single, one-way ticket from Texas to New York.
“In implementing this ‘bad faith’ plan, there can be no doubt that the defendants are liable under section 149 for the costs of care for the at least tens of thousands of individuals they have already transported from Texas to New York City and any additional individuals they transport in the future,” New York alleges.
Section 149 refers to the New York social services Law that requires “[a]ny person who knowingly brings, or causes to be brought a needy person from out of state into this state for the purpose of making him a public charge … shall be obligated to convey such person out of state or support him at his own expense.”
The state is represented by Brad S. Karp, Steven Banks and Michelle Hirshman of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison and Muriel Goode-Trufant of the city of New York.
A case number and counsel information for the defendant companies was not available Monday.
Editor’s Note: Janet Elliott contributed to this report.