Credit: Nancy Beijersbergen/Shutterstock.comHouston Man Sues Divorce Lawyers Over Terms, Fees
Three small firm partners and a Duane Morris office leader are facing allegations that they mishandled the divorce and charged too much.
April 26, 2019 at 09:23 AM
3 minute read
A Houston-area man has sued his divorce lawyers for $50 million alleging they were negligent in handling the divorce and charged him too much.
Marek Menger filed the suit on Wednesday against Thomas Conner of Conner & Lindamood; Michael Bynane of Bynane Law Firm; Carlos Ryerson of Ryerson & Associates; and Thomas Sankey, managing partner of Duane Morris' Houston and Austin offices. Conner & Lindamood and Duane Morris are also defendants in the case.
A spokesman for Duane Morris said he was unaware of the lawsuit, which was filed in state district court in Harris County, and did not immediately provide a response to the allegations. None of the other defendants responded to requests for comment.
Menger is the former owner of Petro-Valve in Houston and now owns Menger Valve in Houston, according to his LinkedIn account.
He alleges in his petition that the defendants each represented him in his divorce from Sherry Menger, which she filed in 2016 in family court in Harris County.
In the petition in Menger v. Conner, Menger alleges that the defendants were negligent by failing to perform at least one of these duties: to protect his community and/or separate property assets, to determine their value and to not allow them to be “wasted and/or secreted away,” to properly advise him on the proper division of his marital estate and its settlement value, to properly retain experts, to properly respond to discovery requests and to seek discovery responses.
Menger also alleges each defendant breached duties to him including competent and diligent representation, proper legal advice and reasonable care to protect his interests.
He claims the lawyers breached their duty to enter into proper billing arrangements with him, to communicate with him on billing rates and to charge him “non-excessive fees.”
“Each of the defendants' negligence proximately caused Mr. Menger to suffer economic damages involving his asset commonly known as Petro-Valve, and including suffering mental anguish, and by causing him to incur and pay excessive and unnecessary attorney's fees and expenses,” Menger alleges in the petition.
The plaintiff also claims the defendants were grossly negligent because their “negligence was committed by acting with malice” toward him.
He seeks up to $50 million in actual damages, court costs, interest, attorney fees, mental anguish damages and punitive damages.
Plaintiffs attorney Michael West, of West & West in Pasadena, did not return a telephone message seeking comment.
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