DALLAS (Legal Newsline) - A Dallas federal judge has sent a dispute between personal injury lawyers back to the state court in which it was originally filed.
Bradley Egenberg of Egenberg APLC removed the suit brought by Charles Bennett Law to federal court late last year but did not file objections to a federal magistrate judge's finding the case should have stayed in state court.
Magistrate Judge Renee Harris Toliver found on April 20 that Bennett had stipulated to recover no more than $74,500, which is $500 below a threshold for federal jurisdiction.
"Plaintiff's stipulation regarding the amount of damages to which he agrees to be bound does not contradict any allegations in the petition that could support a higher potential recovery," she added.
On June 2, Judge Karen Gren Scholer adopted Toliver's findings since no objections were filed.
Egenberg APLC loaned $100,000 to Charles Bennett Law to find clients and help with their cases, documents filed in a Dallas state court in November say. But Bennett argues Egenberg never helped with litigation and isn't entitled to the 15% of the fees generated to which the agreement stipulated.
Egenberg has asked to start an arbitration proceeding to recover those fees. Bennett has filed for an injunction against the arbitration.
"Mr. Egenberg failed to participate in any way in any litigation matters involving CBL and has no written agreements for any fee shares on any cases involving CBL with any of CBL's clients," Bennett wrote.
"Despite Mr. Egenberg's failures to comply with the written agreement to participate in litigation of certain matters, Mr. Egenberg has repeatedly demanded payments for fee shares... Mr. Egenberg apparently believes he is due a 15% fee share on all cases generated by CBL between Oct. 15, 2018, to July 15, 2019, as interest for the $100,000 loan."
Egenberg made $10,000 payments each month from October 2018 to July 2019. Bennett says he repaid that principal before the end of 2019.
Part of the loan agreement said Egenberg would "participate in the litigation of all matters originated by CBL" while the monthly loans were coming in. Bennett says that never happened and refuses to give up 15% of the fees those cases generated.
He also claims an arbitration provision in the agreement was unconscionable, citing a return on investment that would violate usury laws.
Bennett's website says he represents clients in vehicle crash and workplace injury cases. The site of New Orleans-based Egenberg says he files property damage and personal injury cases.