DALLAS (Legal Newsline) - A personal injury firm will have to pay almost $100,000 to a colleague with whom it had a business agreement, including more than $40,000 for filing a lawsuit to try to block arbitration.
A Jan. 19 ruling by arbitrator Robert Jenevein found in favor of Bradley Egenberg of Egenberg APLC. The case involved a loan from Egenberg to Charles Bennett Law plus money for marketing to find clients and help with cases.
Bennett claimed Egenberg never helped with litigation and shouldn't get his cut of the fees and filed suit in Dallas state court to block arbitration. He claimed an arbitration provision in the agreement was unconscionable, citing a return on investment that would violate usury laws.
But the case ended up in arbitration anyway, where Jenevein ruled it should have been all along. He also found Egenberg was entitled to his share of the fees.
"(Bennett) claims he initiated the court action to 'protect' the arbitration proceedings," Jenevein wrote.
"Respondent does not identify a specific threat to these proceedings, and it would not have mattered if he had. Even a token attempt to resolve through the courts what Respondent had agreed to resolve in arbitration was a violation of the agreement to arbitrate.
"As a result, Claimant is entitled to recover as damages the fees he incurred in the state and federal courts, and he may recover in these proceedings the reasonable fees incurred to bring this claim.'
Ultimately, Jenevein found Egenberg was entitled to $35,320.98 from Bennett, plus attorneys fees of $64,419. Of the fee figure, $41,344.50 came from "court proceedings wrongfully initiated."
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.