Two Houston Plaintiffs Firms Sued For More than $1.4M
Houston Medical Group sued Houston firms Bowers Law Group and JMR Law Group of Houston, alleging they failed to reimburse it for providing medical treatment to the firms' clients.
November 30, 2018 at 05:02 PM
3 minute read
Two Houston plaintiffs firms have been sued by a medical provider that alleges the firms failed to pay it more than $1.4 million for medical treatment provided to the firms' personal injury clients.
Houston Medical Group alleges Bowers Law Group and JMW Law Group settled personal injury claims they filed on behalf of the clients, and distributed proceeds to the clients and to themselves, but failed to pay the medical bills, as promised.
In a petition filed on Nov. 29 in state district court in Houston, Houston Medical Group alleges it provided medical treatment to clients of the two firms from June 2013 through January 2017 under “letters of protection.” A letter of protection, according to the petition, is a written promise that the personal injury attorney will pay the medical provider's bills with proceeds from settlement of the client's personal injury case.
“In return for plaintiff's treatment of defendants' clients and deferral of any demands for payment, defendants promised to set aside the proceeds from any recoveries obtained as a result of each client's personal injury case in order to reimburse plaintiff for services rendered,” Houston Medical Group alleges.
Houston Medical Group seeks actual damages totaling at least $1,423,291, exemplary damages and attorney fees. It brings several causes of action against the defendants, including breach of contract, fraud, conversion, promissory estoppel and unjust enrichment.
Paul Bowers, who no longer practices at Bowers Law Group, declined comment and referred questions to Joe Williams, owner of JMW Law Group. Williams could not be reached for comment. A call to a telephone number for Bowers Law Group was answered by JMW Law Group.
Bowers now practices at DeSouza Law in San Antonio.
According to the petition in Houston Medical Group v. The Bowers Law Group, JMW Law Group “substituted for Bowers, or accepted referrals from Bowers, on some or all of Bowers' personal injury cases at some point between 2016 and 2018.”
Jared Johnson, a partner at Sullins, Johnston, Rohrbach & Magers in Houston, who represents Houston Medical Group, said his client is owed money from the settlement of claims filed by the defendants on behalf of about 300 clients.
Johnson has sued Bowers Law Group before. In 2017, he filed a petition in Houston on behalf of Memorial MRI & Diagnostic, seeking at least $73,535 for services it provided to the firm's clients with personal injury claims or causes of action.
Bowers Law Group, represented by Williams, denied the allegations in Memorial MRI & Diagnostic v. The Bowers Law Group, and the plaintiff filed a nonsuit in June.
“It was resolved,” Johnson said.
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