KANSAS CITY, Mo. (Legal Newsline) – A Missouri law firm is seeking to void a total of $75,000 in fees regarding one of the attorneys who worked on a case of a man who passed away after receiving allegedly contaminated medication.
Wagstaff & Cartmell LLP filed a lawsuit against Indiana attorney Neal Lewis in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri on Nov. 1 alleging that the firm is not responsible for compensating Lewis for the time worked on the case of Robert Allen, who died at a clinic in Arizona in 2008.
As stated in the complaint, Allen's widow, Charlisa Allen, "found Neal Lewis (a lawyer in rural Indiana) apparently as a result of some internet advertising." Lewis met with Charlisa Allen in Arizona and she "ostensibly retained him in early April 2008, approximately a month after her husband died," the suit states.
Charlisa Allen and Lewis signed an agreement that had a cancellation clause, where Lewis is "entitled to two-thirds of any contingent fee later recovered by another lawyer," in case Charlisa Allen breaches the agreement by hiring a different lawyer after nine months of signing, the suit states.
Lewis allegedly did not provide any effective assistance to Charlisa Allen, and she entered a contract with plaintiff Wagstaff & Cartmell on April 26, 2014. Almost four years later, in January 2018, Lewis attempted to "broker the Allen lawsuit to other counsel without the knowledge or consent of either Mrs. Allen or Wagstaff & Cartmell," the complaint states.
Lewis was terminated from the case by Charlisa Allen on Jan. 22, the suit states.
On March 18, the parties entered an agreement and settled the Allen case, which was dismissed with prejudice.
Wagstaff & Cartmell is seeking a declaratory judgment, plus a jury trial to determine whether Lewis is entitled to the fees, among other issues.
The firm is represented in the case by its own attorneys, John O'Connor, Jonathan Kieffer and Jack Hyde.
U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri case number 4:18-cv-00870-GAF