(Photo: Jason Doiy/ALM)Littler Hit With Negligence Suit Over Handling of Discovery
A Houston company alleges the law firm and one of its Pittsburgh shareholders provided contact information for too many potential litigants in an underlying FLSA suit, costing it excess legal and settlement fees.
November 27, 2019 at 12:37 PM
3 minute read
A Houston energy consulting and staffing company has filed a negligence suit against Littler Mendelson and Pittsburgh shareholder Terrence Murphy, alleging they provided too much information to adversaries in a federal FLSA case, leading to excess legal and settlement fees.
New Tech Global Ventures claims that the employee contact information that Littler turned over to plaintiffs in an underlying Fair Labor Standards Act suit allowed their adversaries to add many additional plaintiffs to the suit.
In a petition filed Nov. 21 in State District Court in Harris County, New Tech Global Ventures seeks forfeiture of $240,000 in fees it paid the firm under a defense representation that began in 2017.
The company also seeks unspecified damages for the money it spent to hire a new firm to "attempt to cure the problems created by defendants," arbitration fees and money paid to settle claims brought by the plaintiffs in the underlying suit who allegedly would not have been in the litigation if the defendants had not disclosed their contact information.
Kelley Edwards, managing shareholder of Littler's Houston office, did not immediately return a telephone message seeking comment on the allegations. Neither did Murphy. A spokeswoman for Littler said in a statement that the "allegations are without merit and we will vigorously defend against them." She declined to comment further.
As alleged in the petition, New Tech Global Ventures hired Littler and Murphy to defend it against an FLSA lawsuit pending in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas. The name plaintiff filed it on behalf of himself and other similarly situated "well site" supervisors.
However, when the defendants provided names and addresses for well site supervisors to plaintiffs in the underlying suit, it also turned over information for hundreds of "completion" supervisors, allowing the plaintiffs attorneys to sign up "numerous" additional plaintiffs, the suit alleged.
As a result, New Tech Global Ventures alleged in the petition, it was forced to hire new counsel and incurred "significant legal fees trying to cure the problems creates by defendants' negligence."
The company also alleged the defendants violated the Deceptive Trade Practices-Consumer Protection Act on the ground it charged an "unconscionable fee" for the services rendered.
Steven Duble of Houston, who represents New Tech Global Ventures in the negligence suit, was not immediately available for comment.
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