DALLAS – Dallas Division of the Northern District of Texas Judge Sam A. Lindsay ruled to grant summary judgment for legal firm Burt Barr and Associates LLP and others in an order April 23 and dismissed the legal malpractice case against the firm.
Plaintiff Martina Smart Simmons was seeking more than $3 million in the malpractice case against Barr and Associates. Her March 2015 complaint stated the law firm represented her in a legal matter against Dr. Piyush V. Patel and related business entities due to accusations of sexual harassment, retaliation and false imprisonment.
The April 23 order shows that the plaintiff stated that she had no opposition to the defendant’s motion for summary judgment. Lindsay wrote: “there is no genuine dispute of material fact regarding her remaining claims for malpractice….Defendants are entitled to judgment as a matter of law.”
The order does not specify any prior amounts of money obtained for the plaintiff by the defendant, but the original complaint shows that a judgment was obtained against the Heart Center and Heart Place Hospital LP, a company affiliated with Patel, in the amount of $155,000 and that the judgment was handed down in 2004. It also shows that in 2011, the defendants got a final default judgment for the plaintiff in the amount of $3 million against the doctor in the 238th Judicial District Court of Midland County.
The complaint states judgment amounts were not rendered to the plaintiff due to bankruptcy proceedings and how Patel’s behavior related to the proceedings.
“Plaintiff’s claims arose from conduct committed by Dr. Patel which conduct was a continuing, intentional tort and thus, would have been non-dischargeable in his personal bankruptcy proceeding; and should not have been dischargeable in the various related bankruptcy proceedings,” the original complaint states.
The court granted defendants' motion for summary judgment and "dismisses with prejudice this action,” Lindsay wrote. “Judgment will issued by separate document.”