In 2004, businessman Pat Bond alleges, he hired Houston-based Coats, Rose, Ryman & Lee for legal research to ensure that he owned 49 percent of Hoffa Inc. and that his investment in the company was secure.

So he was “shocked” four years later, when the law firm turned around and sued Bond on behalf of Hoffa in a shareholder dispute—and even advocated that theft criminal charges be filed against him—according to a professional malpractice case Bond filed against Coats Rose and one of the firm’s former directors.