 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
Robnett v. Kirklin Law Firm6/2/2005
This dispute concerns competing rights to attorney's fees under contingency-fee contracts that appellant, Paula Robnett, referred to appellee, the Kirklin Law Firm (the firm), at least one of which the firm, in turn, referred to a third law firm. The firm prevailed by summary judgment after intervening in the trial-court cause, the "Thomas" case, seeking a declaration that it was entitled to attorney's fees in that lawsuit and in a second action, the "Trutec" case. Appellant, Paula Robnett, opposed the firm's intervention and claimed competing rights to the fees. The firm opposed Robnett's challenge and sought traditional summary judgment on its intervention claim on the grounds that, when Robnett signed the initial, contingency-fee contracts in both cases, her license to practice law in Texas had been suspended for nonpayment of her attorney-occupation tax and for failing to meet requirements under the Texas Guaranteed Student Loan Program. The trial court rendered summary judgment in favor of the firm and enjoined Robnett from seeking attorney's fees from her former clients in both cases. In rendering summary judgment, the trial court ruled that Robnett was not retroactively reinstated when she executed the contingency-fee contracts in either the Thomas case or the Trutec case, that the firm was entitled to $15,542.13, or one-half of the funds deposited in the court's registry, and that Robnett could not seek attorney's fees in the Thomas case and was not entitled to receive any attorney's fees in the Trutec case.
Robnett challenges the summary judgment in five issues. She argues that her bar memberships were reinstated retroactively as a matter of law, and that her initial, contingency-fee contracts were therefore valid, which precludes summary judgment in favor of the firm. She also contends that the firm had no standing to challenge the validity of her initial contract because her former clients in the Thomas case later ratified their initial, contingency-fee contract; she contends, alternatively, that whether her former clients ratified their earlier contract presents a factual dispute that precluded summary judgment. Finally, Robnett contends that the trial court improperly enjoined her from seeking referral fees under her initial contracts.
We hold that Robnett's bar-membership suspensions were not retroactively reinstated; that her contingency-fee contracts in both the Thomas and Trutec cases, which were signed during two periods of suspended licensure, were therefore void; and that Robnett did not timely present her remaining issues to the trial court. Because the firm established its right to summary judgment as a matter of law, we affirm.
Undisputed Facts and Procedural History
Robnett and her former clients, the plaintiffs in the trial-court cause, the Thomas case, signed their initial, 40% contingency-fee contract on October 19, 1998. When she signed the contract, however, Robnett had been suspended from practicing since September 1, 1998 for nonpayment of attorney's occupation tax. See Tex. Tax Code Ann. § 191.1441 (Vernon 2002); see also State Bar R. art. III, § 8, reprinted in Tex. Gov't Code Ann., tit. 2, subtit. G app. A (Vernon 2005) (State Bar Rules confirming requirements and penalties). Robnett was not reinstated for this violation until October 30, 1998. Robnett and her former clients in the Trutec case signed their initial, contingency-fee contract in that case on January 27, 2000. Two days earlier, however, on January 25, 2000, Robnett was suspended from practicing law for noncompliance with Supreme Court of Texas rules governing minimum repayment requirements under the Texas Guaranteed Student Loan program. See Tex. Gov't Code Ann. §
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 Texas Personal Injury Attorneys
Personal Injury Lawyers
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|