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Madeksho v. Abraham3/15/2001
Petition for review denied September 13, 2001.
LAWRENCE MADEKSHO, APPELLANT
v.
ABRAHAM, WATKINS, NICHOLS & FRIEND, AND THE LAW OFFICE OF ROBERT E. BALLARD, P. C., APPELLEES
On Appeal from the 165th District Court Harris County, Texas Trial Court Cause No. 97-23595
Panel consists of Justices Cannon, Draughn, and Lee. *fn1
The opinion of the court was delivered by: Bill Cannon Justice
OPINION
Lawrence Madeksho appeals from a summary judgment in favor of appellees for attorney's fees due under an oral fee-splitting agreement. In four issues, or points of error, appellant contends: (1) the trial court erred in granting appellees' motion for partial summary judgment; (2) the trial court erred in denying appellant's motion for summary judgment; (3) the trial court erred in granting appellees' summary judgment because they had no right to attorney's fees under the September 13, 1995 letter agreement; and (4) appellees forfeited their rights to attorney's fees because they abandoned their clients by withdrawing from their cases in 1995 without just cause. We affirm.
FACTUAL BACKGROUND
In the 1970's, appellee Robert E. Ballard (Ballard) was a member of the law firm of Kronzer, Abraham, Watkins, Nichols, Ballard & Friend, the predecessor to appellees' law firm of Abraham, Watkins, Nichols & Friend (AWN&F;. Appellant and Ballard entered into an oral fee-splitting arrangement whereby each attorney would receive fifty percent (50%) of the attorney's fees collected in asbestos injury claims. Appellant referred most of his injured clients to Ballard, and Ballard did most of the legal work for these clients. Appellant and Ballard worked together for seventeen years on this oral fee-splitting agreement without any problems.
In May 1994, appellant and Ballard reached a settlement with Fibreboard Corporation (Fibreboard) for about two hundred asbestos claimants. A settlement agreement dated May 31, 1994, was signed by Fibreboard and Continental Casualty Company (Continental), as the defendants, and "Law Offices of Lawrence Madeksho and Abraham, Watkins, Nichols, Ballard & Friend as Representative (the "Representative") for itself and on behalf of all the asbestos personal injury and death claimants who filed claims against Fibreboard before August 27, 1993." Appellant signed the agreement "as representative of the claimants."
The pertinent portions of the settlement agreement provided:
2.1 Fibreboard, Continental and Claimants, by and through the Representative, agree to compromise and settle, finally and fully, each and all of the claims of each and all of the Claimants on the following terms and conditions. In addition to other good and valuable consideration, the receipt and adequacy of which are confirmed by Claimants, Fibreboard and Continental agree to pay as follows (emphasis added).
2.4 The amounts due on Before-1959 claims will be paid and distributed as follows.
(a) Payment of non refundable 50% cash component to Claimants with Before-1959 Claims.
Continental will pay 50% of the amounts set forth in Section 2 [listing names and settlement amounts for individual claimants] in two cash payments.
The first 50% payment was paid by Continental as set out in the settlement agreement. Appellant and appellees split the attorney's fees according to their long-standing oral agreement. The second payment is the subject of this lawsuit. The agreement refers to the second payment as the "Deferre
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