HOUSTON – The 14th Court of Appeals recently wiped an award of attorney’s fees to Lamar Texas LP in a lawsuit brought over an attorney’s alleged unpaid billboard advertisements.
Court records show Lamar Texas filed suit against Kennard Law back in March 2017 in Fort Bend County, alleging that Kennard owed $33,867.50.
Kennard answered with an unverified general denial. In August 2019, he filed a plea to the jurisdiction, asserting that Kennard is headquartered in Harris County and that the facts of the suit have no connection to Fort Bend County.
In September 2019, Kennard failed to appear for trial and the trial court signed a default judgment awarding Lamar damages, interest, attorney’s fees and costs.
The judgment contained an award of attorney’s fees in the amount of $6,000.
On appeal, Kennard argued the failure to appear was due to a scheduling conflict, court records show.
On July 13, the 14th Court reversed the trial court’s award of attorney’s fees to Lamar but affirmed the rest of the judgment.
“Though the contract between the parties did allow for ‘reasonable attorney’s fees’ in the event of a breach, Lamar was required to prove the reasonableness of the requested attorney’s fees,” the opinion states. “There is neither any record of attorney testimony on fees, nor does the record contain any billing records.”
Appeals case No. 14-19-00819-CV