An Alabama woman has filed a $1 million lawsuit against Houston plaintiffs lawyers W. Mark Lanier and Charles Herd, alleging a judge dismissed her Deepwater Horizon personal injury suit after the defendants “neglected” it and failed to respond to court orders.

Sheri Allen Dorgan alleged in a petition filed Tuesday in state district court in Harris County, that Judge Carl Barbier of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana dismissed her case because her claims were filed late or not at all, and he stated that “the dismissal was 'due to the attorneys' own fault.'”

Herd was practicing at Lanier's firm when Dorgan's case began, and later left to open his own firm.

Dorgan alleges that due solely to the fault of the lawyers, her “personal injury claims are forever barred and she will never recover from the severe injuries she suffered as a result of the oil spill.”

The petition names Lanier and Lanier Law Firm as well as Herd and Herd Law Firm.

In response to an email seeking comment, Lanier wrote that he had not seen the petition.

“We work hard to do right by our clients, and until I see what the case is, I am unable to give any substantive comment. Mr. Herd was handling this case, and he is no longer with the firm, so I will need to talk to him about it as well,” Lanier wrote.

Herd declined to comment because he had not reviewed the petition.

In Dorgan v. Lanier, Dorgan alleged she was exposed to benzene and other carcinogenic chemicals following the April 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico.

“The exposure caused blisters, hair loss, respiratory infections and other immune disorders,” the petition said.

The plaintiff hired Lanier and his firm to represent her in connection with her injuries and Herd, who was then at the firm, worked on her suit, the petition said. Dorgan alleged that Herd took her case with him when he left Lanier Law Firm, but Lanier and his firm did not withdraw from representing her and continued to expect compensation.

According to the Herd Law Firm website, Herd left Lanier Law Firm in July 2018.

Dorgan's petition said she chose the defendants to represent her because “they held themselves out as the best lawyers for the task.”

The defendants filed Dorgan's underlying lawsuit in 2017 in Barbier's court in Louisiana, but Dorgan alleged the defendants failed to follow Barbier's dictates.

“Lanier was too busy accumulating accolades to be distracted by Sheri's case and Herd was too busy starting his own practice. Thus, defendants neglected Sheri's case and failed to address at least three orders by Judge Barbier,” she alleges in the petition.

The underlying complaint was dismissed with prejudice on Jan. 31, Dorgan's petition said, because the defendants failed to timely respond to a show cause order. Herd filed a motion asking Barbier to reconsider, arguing that pleadings were not completed because of a mistake by counsel, and Dorgan should not be punished for doing nothing wrong. But Barbier denied that motion on May 1, stating that the dismissal was the fault of the lawyers.

“Accordingly, due solely to the fault of the Super Lawyers, Sheri's personal injury claims are forever barred and she will never recover for the severe injuries she suffered as a result of the oil spill,” the petition alleged.

Dorgan is bringing negligence and gross negligence causes of action against the defendants, and asserted in her petition that the defendants are jointly liable. She is seeking more than $1 million in actual damages, exemplary damages for the gross negligence, and damages for emotional distress.

Plaintiff's attorney Lance Kassab, of Kassab Law Firm in Houston, is representing her. He said Dorgan suffered severe injuries related to the explosion, because her house was located on the coast.

As for the defendants, Kassab said, they missed deadlines to respond to three different orders.

“It's mind-boggling,” he said.