HOUSTON – A Harris County man is suing his legal counsel for failing to obtain his consent on a Rule 11 Settlement Agreement in a shareholder lawsuit, recent state district court records indicate.
Barrett Wakefield’s lawsuit, which was filed on Dec. 15 in the Harris County 55th District Court, explains that Wakefield was a defendant in a case in which the plaintiffs claimed they were shareholders of a company called ThinAir. Wakefield hired attorney William B. Underwood, III of the law firm Underwood, Jones, Scherrer & Malouf, PLLC in Houston to represent him.
Wakefield says it is his brother who operates ThinAir.
Per Wakefield’s complaint, Underwood and his practice entered the aforementioned Rule 11 Settlement Agreement, reportedly in the amount of $140,000, with the plaintiffs without consulting Wakefield.
“Mr. Wakefield did not and would not have approved this settlement, as he had no responsibility for the claims of the plaintiffs in the underlying lawsuit,” court documents say.
Asserting the respondents may have secured his co-defendants’ approval, Wakefield further states that he advised them “to withdraw, on his behalf, their purported agreement of Rule 11.”
An unsuccessful appeal process resulted in Wakefield facing a $167,500 judgment, the suit says.
He consequently seeks unspecified monetary damages.
Attorney Michael D. West of the law firm West & West, LLP in Houston is representing Wakefield.
Harris County 55th District Court Case No. 2017-83168