HOUSTON – A Hays County woman is seeking more than $1 million in damages from the “largest law personal injury firm in Texas,” alleging attorneys for the firm negligently persuaded her to settle a wrongful death lawsuit brought on behalf of her late son.
Jennifer Sutter filed suit against Thomas J. Henry Law on Feb. 4 in Harris County District Court, also naming attorneys Thomas Henry, Kevin Norris and Curtis Fitzgerald as defendants.
According to the lawsuit, Sutter’s three-year old son drowned at the Trailwood Village Apartment Complex on July 29, 2017. While Sutter was in the restroom, the boy opened the gate to the pool area. The gate was locked by means of a “stick” wedged into the gate. Sutter found her son floating lifeless in the pool.
Only days later, Sutter hired Thomas J. Henry Law and a lawsuit was filed on Aug. 2, 2017, according to the suit. At the time, Sutter was married to “Thomas Justin Moore,” who was not the boy’s biological father and had not adopted him.
During the case, Sutter informed her lawyers that she intended on divorcing Moore.
“Looking out for their own interests rather than Jennifer’s, the lawyers advised Jennifer to wait to file the divorce until after the resolution of the case,” the suit states. “The lawyers eventually settled the underlying case for a confidential, inadequate amount.”
Sutter claims the lawyers were “negligent in advising” her to settle and the she would have obtained a more favorable judgment had the case proceeded to trial.
Sutter filed for divorce after the settlement documents were finalized. And as expected, Moore made a claim to her settlement proceeds, the suit states.
Sutter claims she incurred $200,000 in legal fees litigating issues surrounding the characterization of the settlement proceeds and that her divorce counsel ultimately recommended that she pay Moore $300,000 of the settlement proceeds.
“This recommendation was based on the fact that the settlement documents had been negligently drafted, leaving Jennifer and the estate’s funds susceptible to a claim of community property and the onerous indemnification language,” the suit states.
In addition to actual damages, Sutter is suing for exemplary damages.
She is represented by Houston attorney Lance Christopher Kassab.
Cause No. 2020-07738