HOUSTON – Last August, Brent Coon was hit with a legal malpractice lawsuit alleging the Beaumont attorney botched his representation of a Deepwater Horizon oil spill claimant.
Mark Canfora brought the suit seeking more than $2 million in damages. A year into the litigation, proceedings haven’t exactly been civil.
Court records show Coon filed a counterclaim against Canfora for defamation, as the attorney took issue with the language in the plaintiff’s amended petition. A motion to dismiss was also filed back in November.
On Dec. 29, the trial court ordered Coon to pay Canfora’s attorney, Lance Kassab, $6,300 in fees
Today, the First Court of Appeals conditionally granted a mandamus petition brought by Kassab, who argued the trial court abused its discretion by denying a Rule 91a motion to dismiss.
Court records show Canfora and Kassab had moved to dismiss Coon’s defamation claim, which was denied by the trial court back in January.
On appeal, Canfora argued the defamation claim against him is barred by the judicial proceedings privilege because it is undisputed the statements at issue were made in a judicial proceeding.
Coon argued the statements at issue have no relation to the proceeding, precluding the application of the attorney immunity doctrine, and that the statements “do not” have “some relation to the proceeding,” but were instead filed “simply to obtain media interest and hit the press with high levels of coverage from several media outlets.”
Justices found the judicial proceeding privilege precludes Coon’s defamation claim.
Appeals case No. 01-21-00128-CV