Houston lawyer W. Shane Osborn alleges in a June 13 petition that Branch Law Firm in Houston and Turner Branch failed to pay him a bonus consisting of 10 percent of attorney fees on cases he worked on. Osborn alleges in a petition in W. Shane Osborn v. Branch Law Firm LLP that the defendants offered him employment on Nov. 5, 2010, with terms including a $50,000 annual salary and a "bonus of 10 percent of attorney's fees recovered in any case he worked on." Osborn alleges he worked at the firm from Nov. 5, 2010, through May 7.
He alleges he was "terminated" on May 7 and the defendants have "refused" to pay him a 10 percent bonus of attorney fees in cases he worked on and to pay him for working from May 1 through May 7. "Upon information and belief, Defendants never intended to pay Plaintiff the bonus of 10% of attorney's fees in cases Plaintiff worked on as promised to entice his employment," Osborn alleges in the petition filed in the 164th District Court in Harris County, Texas.
Osborn brings breach of contract and fraud causes of action against the defendants, and he seeks actual damages, punitives, attorney fees and interest.
According to the State Bar of Texas' website, Osborn is working at Javitch, Block & Rathbone of Richardson, but he did not return a telephone message left at the firm. Plaintiffs attorney Ernest Boyd, a shareholder in MehaffeyWeber in Houston, did not return two telephone messages. Turner Branch did not return a telephone message. Branch Law Firm is based in Albuquerque, N.M., and has offices in Houston and Washington, D.C.
This article first appeared on Texas Lawyer's Tex Parte blog.
