A Stamford-based law firm has sued a former client for more than $500,000, allegedly owed on legal bills.

In the lawsuit filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut, Barr & Morgan claims its former client of about seven years, New York-based gas station operator Musa Eljamal, reneged on attorney bills after filing for bankruptcy protection.

The Connecticut suit is the latest legal trouble for 73-year-old Eljamal, who pleaded guilty in late 2002 to defrauding the New York State Insurance Fund of nearly $600,000. Eljamal has owned more than 20 gas stations, convenience marts and car washes in New York.

Now, Barr & Morgan says the businessman owes about half a million dollars for legal counsel for several of his businesses over the years. Its suit claims the law firm represented Eljamal in at least 11 litigated matters before multiple courts. It alleges breach of contract and unjust enrichment, claiming the firm suffered a "financial loss in excess of $500,000."

Barr & Morgan is nine years old and has two attorneys specializing in personal injury, commercial law and family and probate matters.

Eljamal, of Ardsley, New York, could not immediately be reached Tuesday, while Barr & Morgan partner John Morgan declined to comment.

The 6-page lawsuit alleges that in June 2015 Eljamal's son and business partner, Sammy, filed a voluntary bankruptcy petition. It claims the defendant then requested that the law firm defer collection on several of its bills, according to the complaint.

The next month, the suit states, the defendant signed a letter acknowledging the firm's ongoing representation and agreed to change the agreement with respect to specific billings in light of the bankruptcy filing from one if its companies, a Yonkers, New York-based Snack Mart.

In the same letter, Sammy Eljamal allegedly agreed that if the Snack Mart was unable to make payment, then his father would do so, according to the suit. A similar letter in December 2018, the lawsuit claimed, acknowledged representation from the firm and supported an application "for payment of fees in the Yonkers Central Avenue Snack Mart Inc.'s bankruptcy."

But despite the alleged guarantees in the letters, the lawsuit claims Musa Eljamal failed to pay, then later "terminated any communication" with the law firm Feb. 21.

"It is now clear that the defendant has no intention of paying the fees for services rendered," the firm alleged.

The case is scheduled before U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Meyer for the District of Connecticut.