Darrell W. Cook, P.C. d/b/a Darrell W. Cook & Associates, A Professional Corporation v. Burton Cole, et al.
Apr 04, 2014
OUTCOME: Law firm's claim was denied in arbitration; law firm also was required to reimburse former clients' expenses.
A law firm sued their former clients for failure to pay an alleged due and owing fee and expense bill. I represented the former clients. I first moved the case to arbitration pursuant to the fee agreem...ent and stayed the lawsuit. During arbitration, I successfully defended the former clients. The arbitrator not only denied the law firm's claim but also ordered the law firm to reimburse my clients their expense in the arbitration. Once the arbitration award was received, I moved for confirmation of the arbitration award in the Court in order to close out the lawsuit. The law firm agreed to the confirmation of the arbitration award and paid the expense.
Litigation
Padilla v. Classic Cars of Houston, LLC, et al.
Feb 13, 2014
OUTCOME: Claims settled after contentious litigation
Padilla owned a classic 1957 VW Oval and agreed with a local mall owner to display the vehicle at the mall. When the mall had to move the car due to renovations, the mall damaged the vehicle. The mall ...then contracted with Classic Cars of Houston to repair the damaged vehicle. Padilla alleged that Classic Cars damaged the vehicle even further while in its possession and sued Classic Cars in small claims court. During the ongoing litigation and after the Defendants retained counsel to represent them in the lawsuit, Padilla retained me to represent him. We ultimately allowed the small claims case to be dismissed by the Court without prejudice and then I re-filed the suit in county court. In the new lawsuit, I alleged breach of contract and negligence and sought actual damages, exemplary damages, attorney fees, interest, and court costs. Defendants answered the new lawsuit and sought attorney fees under the Texas DTPA. I moved to dismiss Defendants' request for attorney fees and sought sanctions against Defendants for filing their request, which I asserted had no basis in law or fact. Rather than have the Judge rule on my motion, Defendants agreed to withdraw their request for attorney fees and I withdrew my motion to dismiss and for sanctions. Thereafter the parties reached a settlement and dismissed their respective claims.
Insurance
Insurance Investigation of Assisted Living Center
Nov 20, 2013
OUTCOME: Insurance coverage investigation closed with no adverse effects against clients
After the death of a resident at an assisted living center, the center's insurance company began a coverage investigation and accused the center's owners of lying on the insurance application in a pote...ntial move to deny coverage for any potential wrongful death claim against the center. As part of its investigation, the insurance company requested statements/depositions of the owners of the center by the insurance company's outside counsel. The center retained me to represent it and its owners during the investigation. During the investigation, we were able to prove that the insurance agent had incorrectly/wrongfully filled out part of the policy application despite having provided the same insurance to the prior owners of the center. The investigation centered on the owners asserting in the policy application that the facility had audible door alarms when in fact it did not. The deceased resident had died of heat stroke after walking out of the facility on a hot summer day and not coming back in. During the investigation, I proved that the insurance agent knew that the center did not have audible door alarms and incorrectly/wrongfully answered the question on the policy application. The new owners had bought the center from the prior owners and retained the same agent for insurance. The insurance company decided to withdraw their demand for statements/depositions of the center's owners and ultimately closed the investigation. No wrongful death claim was made against the center, and, to their credit, the center's owners updated all safety aspects of the facility, including installing audible door alarms to prevent another accident.
Landlord or tenant
WRH Parque at Bellaire LLP v. Tamera Laws, et al.
Oct 25, 2013
OUTCOME: Landlord's eviction claim was denied
Apartment landlord filed an eviction suit against tenants. Tenants retained me just two hours before trial. I researched the case, filed an answer and motion for continuance, and appeared for trial al...l in the same afternoon. When the Court denied my request for continuance, I defeated the landlord's eviction claim based on procedural defects in how the eviction and lawsuit was handled by the landlord. Clients were able to take their time to remove their belongings and properly return the apartment to the landlord without owing any additional money.
Debt collection
Unifund CCR Partners v. Fairyal M. Ali, Wells Fargo Bank, and Rubina Sultanali
Oct 08, 2013
OUTCOME: Reversal of judgment and dismissal of case.
A judgment creditor obtained a writ of garnishment more than six years after judgment and froze bank accounts as well as a safety deposit box. Judgment debtor did not know about the default judgment ob...tained over six years prior, and safety deposit box contained jewelry pieces that were family heirlooms belonging to another family member. I first represented the family member as an intervenor in her claim to the family heirlooms and later also represented the judgment debtor. After legal maneuverings to prevent the bank from giving the family heirlooms to the judgment creditor, I was able to reach a mediated settlement of the debt. The settlement included a dissolution of writ of garnishment, order granting a bill of review, order vacating the original judgment, dismissal of the original case, and release of the family heirlooms.
Ethics and professional responsibility
Barratry Claims against Lawyers
Aug 01, 2013
OUTCOME: Claims settled prior to lawsuits
I represented clients who asserted barratry claims against several different law firms and lawyers who illegally solicited my clients within 30 days of lawsuits being filed against them. Rather than be...ing sued, the law firms and lawyers settled the barratry claims. In 2013, the Texas legislature removed the private cause of action for barratry and thus prevent potential clients from privately suing lawyers who wrongly solicit consumers within 30 days of a lawsuit being filed.
Consumer protection
Minor v. Minor and Parents
Jun 18, 2013
OUTCOME: Defendants settled and reimbursed client for out-of-pocket loss
I represented a minor who was an online gamer. My client was defrauded by another minor both in the online game (promises of certain transactions to be taken within the game that never happened) and ou...tside of the game by the failure to deliver as promised after my client paid the other minor with Apple gift cards. I made a pre-suit demand of the minor and his parents for the return of the money. After considering that we were about to file suit for fraud, civil theft, and breach of contract and contact the local district attorney to file criminal charges, the minor and his parents agreed to the settlement and return of my client's money that had been paid through the Apple gift cards.
Litigation
Kathryn Parker, et al. v. Healthcare of Today, Inc.
Oct 30, 2012
OUTCOME: Plaintiffs' MSJ was denied, forcing Plaintiffs to settle for no money and dismiss their claims
Former Texas shareholders of an acquired company sued the California acquiring company for alleged breaches of the merger agreement in an amount greater than $367,000. Through another attorney, the Cal...ifornia entity defendant filed an answer and requested attorney fees to be paid by the Plaintiffs, because the Plaintiffs had sued for breach of contract and declaratory judgment. The winner in a declaratory judgment action in Texas is entitled to recover attorney fees. When the Plaintiffs filed for summary judgment against Defendant and thus requested the judge to rule in their favor without the benefit of a trial, Defendant's counsel referred the case to me because of its complexity and needed expertise. Four days before the summary judgment hearing (and after the summary judgment response was due), I substituted into the case as Defendant's counsel. After very contentious filings by both sides during the next four days, the Associate Judge continued the summary judgment hearing to allow Defendant to properly respond to Plaintiffs' motion. Plaintiffs then amended their petition and filed an amended motion for summary judgment. After additional heated pleadings between the parties, the Associate Judge denied Plaintiff's motion for summary judgment. Unhappy with the decision, Plaintiffs appealed the Associate Judge's decision to the Presiding Judge of the Court. I not only defended against the appeal of the Associate Judge's decision but also filed a motion for summary judgment and declaratory judgment on behalf of the Defendant, my client. After a hearing on Plaintiffs' appeal, the Presiding Judge denied the appeal and affirmed the Associate Judge's ruling. Rather than have the Court rule on Defendant's motion for summary judgment and declaratory judgment, Plaintiffs settled for no money and dismissed their case.
Probate
Client v. Bank
Oct 02, 2012
OUTCOME: Bank settled rather than go to trial; bank paid money to my client.
My client's deceased wife had fraudulently signed over my client's interest in their homestead to herself and then obtained a new mortgage against the home while diverting the mail to another address. ...Upon her death, the bank attempted to collect the payments from my client and even scared my client into making a payment. The bank filed a probate action, had the Court approve an estate administrator chosen by the bank, submitted a claim to the administrator for foreclosure of the lien against the home, which was approved by the administrator. I was hired after the bank had requested the Court to order the foreclosure sale after the administrator's approval of the claim. I objected to the bank's request of the court and convinced the judge to not order the sale. I then sued the bank and the administrator on behalf of my client. Rather than go to trial, the parties entered into a confidential settlement agreement (hence no names here) that required the bank to pay my client money and allowed the bank to proceed with the foreclosure.
Commercial real estate
Net Matrix Solutions, Inc. v. Software Folks, Inc., et al.
Jul 07, 2011
OUTCOME: Dismissal of my client from lawsuit
I represented a New Jersey business owner who was wrongfully sued in Texas. I along with counsel for Co-Defendant each filed a Special Appearance for our respective client, but only mine was successfu...l. Plaintiff ultimately dismissed my client from the suit.
