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Law Offices of Windle Turley6/2/2005
Before Justices Moseley, Francis, and Mazzant
This is a sanctions case arising out of a lawsuit for attorney fees. The Law Offices of Windle Turley, P.C. sued appellees Robert L. French, individually and on behalf of the estate of Velma Rae French, deceased, Robert R. French, Gwenda Dunn, Linda Gilliland and Robin French to recover attorney fees under contingent fee agreements. At the time this lawsuit was filed, appellant was already litigating these fee claims in Tarrant County through a petition in intervention it had filed two and one-half weeks earlier in appellees' medical malpractice case.
Appellant ultimately nonsuited its claims in Dallas County. The Dallas trial court later imposed sanctions against appellant for filing a frivolous suit. In twelve issues, appellant generally contends the evidence is insufficient to support the trial court's imposition of sanctions and also presents several legal arguments asserting the sanctions were improper. After reviewing the record, we conclude the trial court did not abuse its discretion in imposing sanctions. Accordingly, we affirm the trial court's judgment.
This case has a complex procedural history that is intertwined with the parallel proceeding in Tarrant County. We therefore outline some important dates, pleadings, and rulings that are relevant to the issues presented on appeal.
Appellant filed this lawsuit in Dallas County on February 5, 2001. The Tarrant County intervention was filed on January 18, 2001, one day before the final judgment was rendered in the underlying medical malpractice case. The pleadings in both cases were essentially identical except for the Dallas petition's additional request for injunctive relief prohibiting the District Clerk of Tarrant County from releasing any funds paid into the Registry of the Court that represented disputed attorney's fees and expenses. The day after it filed the Dallas petition, appellant moved for summary judgment on its intervention in Tarrant County. Appellees cross-moved for summary judgment and the Tarrant County trial court signed an order granting summary judgment to appellees on February 28, 2001. Appellant brought an appeal to the Fort Worth court of appeals which affirmed in part and reversed in part. See Law Offices of Windle Turley, P.C. v. French, 140 S.W.3d 407 (Tex. App.-Fort Worth 2004, no pet.).
While the Tarrant County intervention was proceeding, appellees filed a general denial and various counterclaims to the Dallas County lawsuit. They also moved for sanctions in the Dallas suit contending, among other things, the purpose of the duplicative lawsuit was to harass them in retaliation for terminating their contract with appellant after Michael Sawicki, appellant's lead counsel on their medical malpractice case, left appellant's firm (appellees later hired Sawicki to represent them). An initial hearing on the sanctions motion was held on April 12, 2001. On June 4, 2002, after the parties had reached an agreement, an order was entered on the parties' nonsuits specifically dismissing all of appellant's claims and all of appellees' counterclaims except for their claim for filing a frivolous lawsuit. The June 4 order also expressly stated that appellees' motion for sanctions remained pending.
When the sanctions hearing continued on July 10, appellant argued the June 4 order was a final judgment and the trial court therefore lacked jurisdiction to rule on the sanctions motion. The trial court disagreed and orally awarded appellees sanctions in the amount of $4,876.25. An appeal was filed in this Court before the trial court signed its July 31 order memorializing its July 10 ruling. On appeal, appellant continued
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