HOUSTON – AkinMears is suspected of “cooking the books” in order to avoid paying settlement proceeds to an attorney who invested in the firm’s transvaginal mesh docket, according to a recently filed lawsuit.
Seeking more than $1 million in damages, Ralph Manginello filed suit against the firm’s founders, Truett Akin IV and Michelle Mears on April 25.
AkinMears is in the business of representing plaintiffs in mass torts and at any given time represents thousands of individuals across the nation.
“Historically, the firm obtained clients by running television advertisements,” the suit states. “In order to advertise and handle a large volume of cases, the firm needs money. And lots of it.”
According to the suit, Manginello and Akin attended law school together and formed a friendship. In 2007, Akin asked Manginello if he was interested in getting involved in mass torts as the potential for profits was quite large. Manginello agreed to put his law firm name on some national advertising.
In 2012, Manginello entered into new discussions with Akin about investing into mass torts, specifically transvaginal mesh cases. Manginello invested $100,000 with AkinMears for the “advertising, marketing, and acquisition of mesh cases,” the suit states.
Manginello was promised 25 percent of the attorney’s fees and was told by Akin that he anticipated they would end up with 350 cases, each worth $150,000. For a time, Manginello received monthly updates on caseload progression.
“Everything seemed fine until Ralph (Manginello) started asking about the money,” the suit states. "The last update was … July 28, 2013, and it showed they had 346 active cases. Ralph did not receive any further update emails with case numbers or an accounting.
“This was the beginning of the red flags.”
The suit goes on to state that what Manginello did not know at the time was that AkinMears was having serious money problems.
The suit references a lawsuit brought by Amir Shenaq against the firm. Manginello says he realized his friend, Akin, was actually a “liar and a shyster” after reading the lawsuit.
As previously reported, Shenaq, the firm’s former chief business development officer, sued AkinMears alleging the firm fired him to avoid paying him more than $4 million for 14,000 medical mesh lawsuits he acquired for the firm.
Shenaq claimed he also was the force behind raising the money needed to purchase the suits, working directly with lawsuit lending companies.
In his suit, Manginello says he became “increasingly frustrated and suspicious that he was being lied to and essentially scammed” as the update emails stopped and no accounting, spreadsheets or data was being provided.
“Six years after Ralph’s investment and partnership with Truett (Akin) and his firm, Ralph had received nothing near what he had thought he was told he would receive,” the suit states.
In January 2018, Manginello was told that the firm’s accountant had left and the firm was trying to calculate a disbursement of funds and an accounting of the cases without an accountant.
“Again, more red flags,” the suit states. “At this point, Ralph had not received a complete itemized case update or an accounting of the cases in years and was sure that Truett and his firm were ‘cooking the books.’”
On Feb. 6, 2019, Akin sent Manginello an email stating that he had been paid $175,504. He was not provided a detailed accounting of the cases.
“Ralph knew that there was no way Truett and his firm had only made $700,000 in the seven years since they had been acquiring cases together,” the suit states. “Mesh cases were paying and paying well.”
Manginello is alleging breach of contract and breach of fiduciary duty.
He is representing himself.
Filed in Harris County District Court, case No. 2020-25872.