A Houston law firm’s 20-year effort to collect a $38,000 judgment from a nonpaying client is back on track after an appellate court reversed the former client’s summary judgment victory and remanded the case to a trial court.

Two decades ago, Spencer & Associates represented Stephen Harper in a case, and he didn’t pay his legal fees, according to the Aug. 6 opinion in Spencer & Associates v. Harper. In a fee dispute, the firm in 1999 won a judgment against Harper for more than $33,200 in damages and $5,000 in attorney fees, plus 10 percent post-judgment interest.