Tony Buzbee. Photo: Tom Callins

Prominent trial lawyer and current Houston mayoral candidate Tony Buzbee sued rival Houston plaintiffs firm Terry & Thweatt this week, claiming the firm demanded hundreds of thousands of dollars from one of Buzbee's clients despite never having been retained.

Buzbee filed the suit Tuesday in Harris County District court on behalf of client John Luengas, whose daughter died in a car accident two years ago. The complaint said that after her death, Luengas reached out to multiple law firms, including Terry & Thweatt, to inquire about potential representation. Buzbee asserts that Luengas never retained Terry & Thweatt or signed a contract to work with it, and instead hired Buzbee's firm to represent him in litigation over the accident.

The lawsuit, filed July 16 in Harris County District Court, alleges Terry & Thweatt is improperly attempting to lay claim to “several hundreds of thousands of dollars” in attorney fees from Luengas and his daughter's estate. Terry & Thweatt never provided any legal services to Luengas, according to the petition.

“When Jade [my wife] and I lost our only daughter, we were devastated,” Luengas wrote in an emailed statement. “Now, this lawyer Lee Thweatt and his firm are adding to our grief by trying to extract a lot of money from us. Lee Thweatt has never been my lawyer and I never even considered hiring him.”

But Tommy Hastings, a malpractice attorney representing Terry & Thweatt in the dispute, said the firm never made any demands of Luengas. Instead, he said that while Luengas was “in the process” of retaining Terry & Thweatt, it was his ex-wife, Jade James, who actually signed a contingency fee contract with the firm. He said James quickly terminated the firm to accept representation from Buzbee, and attempts the firm made to discuss potential fees owed by James were unsuccessful.

As recounted by the Houston Chronicle, Luengas' 18-year-old daughter had been working as a dancer at the Splendor Gentlemens Club when she died in June 2017. Buzbee sued the club on Luenguas' behalf earlier this year, alleging it served drinks to the underage woman and then allowed her to drive home intoxicated, leading to a fatal collision.

In the lawsuit against Splendor Gentlemens Club, the Harris County district court lists Buzbee as Luengas' attorney. Terry & Thweatt is not listed.

The new case, if it proceeds, is likely to raise questions about when it is appropriate to charge contingency fees, and how much may be collected, after a client ends a relationship with a law firm. According to a 1969 Texas Supreme Court decision, Mandell and Wright v. Thomas, when a client fires an attorney without good cause, the attorney has a right to recover on a contingency fee contract.

“[Terry & Thweatt] tried to resolve the matter with Buzbee Law Firm at the very beginning, and they totally and completely ignored Texas law,” Hastings said.

On the other hand, in a 2006 Texas Supreme Court decision, Hoover Slovacek LLP v. Walton, the court reevaluated its stance on contingency fee agreements and concluded that under certain circumstances, it would be unconscionable for an attorney to collect the 40% normally owed under a standard contingency fee contract.

“Trying to extract an unreasonable fee after doing no work on the case is unconscionable,” Tony Buzbee said. “This family has suffered enough.”