NEW ORLEANS (Legal Newsline) - Attorneys hoping to push a class action lawsuit against a Houston law firm over its role in hurricane-related home repairs will hand the case off to co-workers because of their roles as special masters in Hurricane Ida litigation.
Donald Massey and Blair Constant withdrew as counsel in the case on April 25 in New Orleans federal court to avoid the appearance of impropriety. They denied any actual knowledge ofthe inner workings of defendant McClenny Mosely & Associates and said their colleagues at Couhig Partners should be permitted to pursue the case.
MMA is accused of a scheme that resulted in it representing the clients of a roofing company without those individuals knowing it. Homeowners hired Apex Roofing and gave it permission to negotiate with their insurers (an Assignment of Benefits), but it is alleged Apex in turn hired MMA to do those negotiations, leading to MMA taking a percentage of what was recovered without homeowners knowing MMA was ever involved.
Massey and Constant worked as special masters in Hurricane Ida cases in Jefferson Parish.
"(T)he Special Masters' minimal involvement in only a handful of MMA-related Jefferson Parish cases was not 'substantial' but merey administrative," they wrote. "(S)ignificantly, and in particular, the Special Masters are not in possession of any confidential information that could be used to unfairly benefit or harm any of the parties to this particular action."
Still, Massey and Constant say their co-workers will "screen them from any further involvement in the case."
Couhig Partners represents Louis Carter III in the case against MMA, Apex and marketing company Velawcity. It is being heard in New Orleans federal court after first being filed in Louisiana state court earlier this year.
The lawsuit alleged Velawcity reached out to potential clients with MMA's engagement letter and was paid nearly $14 million for at least 4,628 clients.
The communications were unsolicited and misrepresented that Velawcity was a law firm, the suit says.
"Plaintiffs complaint makes only vague allegations regarding Velawcity's general business dealings, untethered to any allegation of interaction with the named plaintiff Louis Carter," the company's motion to dismiss says.
"The complaint is silent as to whether Mr. Carter suffered any type of economic harm stemming from any act by Velawcity that would be redressable by any cause of action he alleges."
The alleged scheme has brought trouble for the MMA, particularly William Huye, the managing attorney of its Louisiana office.
Huye was temporarily suspended from practicing law in March, with Judge James Cain citing "ongoing misconduct" and a failure to properly document expenses for settlement approval.
Carter says an Apex representative approached him about roof damage suffered at his house following Hurricane Ida. The rep told him he could pay Apex a $500 deductible to fix the roof, then sign an Assignment of Benefits that permitted Apex to "get the ball rolling" on the insurer assessing the damage, the suit says.
Carter alleges this AOB contained no mention of MMA. The insurer, meanwhile, said the damage to the roof was nowhere as severe as Apex claimed.
"Eventually, Plaintiff was able to speak to the adjuster who inspected his property, who informed him off the record that his insurance company had been served with a letter of representation by MMA, who claimed that Plaintiff was their client, so the insurance company was no longer able to speak to Plaintiff directly," the suit says.
"This was the first time Plaintiff had ever heard of MMA or heard that it was claiming to represent him."
After weeks of trying to contact MMA, Carter finally told an attorney there that he did not want MMA representing him, the suit says. Carter preferred to handle the insurance claim himself.
Ultimately, MMA sent a "Notice of Withdrawal of Representation" to the insurer, the suit says. Carter said this was inappropriate, as he had never hired it in the first place.
"Plaintiff's experience dealing with MMA and Apex is similar to the experience of countless others across the State of Louisiana who had run-ins with Apex and MMA, and serves as one example of the schemes perpetrated by Defendants that have caused damage to the class of persons alleged in this petition," the suit says.