HOUSTON – A man has filed a negligence lawsuit against his former attorney, claiming that the attorney repeatedly failed to properly handle his case.
Plaintiff Gregory O. Cook, filed the lawsuit in the Harris County District Court against defendants Malcolm David "Max" Martin, and the Martin Law Firm, citing gross negligence and failure to terminate representation due to a physical condition.
According to the lawsuit, on Sept. 29, 2015, Cook was in a vehicle collision with a tractor trailer that damaged his vehicle and left him with multiple injuries. He filed a suit against the company that owned the truck that was involved in the collision in Aug. 2017 and then refiled the suit in Dec. 2017. On Jan 14, 2019, the plaintiff substituted his original attorney to defendant Martin. The court granted the motion and Martin was appointed as the plaintiff's attorney of record on March 18, 2019. Because of the plaintiff's decision to change his attorney, he moved for a continuance and the court reset the trial date of the plaintiff's lawsuit to Aug. 12, 2019.
The lawsuit states that since Cook hired Martin as his attorney, Martin's chronic health issues caused multiple delays in the court process because Martin's ill health prevented him from being able to take depositions. Cook states that he was forced to motion for several continuances and that Martin failed to appear at a docket call and also at a remote meeting to discuss the case and upcoming trial, with attempts to reach him by the defense not receiving a response.
On Nov. 1, 2021, Cook had hired new attorneys and they attempted to contact Martin to gain his case file and confer with him to properly provide representation. Martin answered text messages promising to deliver his case file, but never followed through on the delivery. The lawsuit states that Martin ignored several subpoenas to appear and on Sept. 29, 2022, Martin's wife finally mailed the case file to Cook's home after the parties had already agreed to a settlement.
The lawsuit states that Martin committed malpractice by negligently breaching his duty to "take actions that an ordinarily prudent lawyer would have taken." According to the lawsuit, Martin's neglectful actions led to a less favorable outcome for the plaintiff than if he had actively prosecuted his case.
The plaintiff is seeking damages, plus interest, attorney fees, court costs and any other relief the court deems proper. He is represented in this case by attorneys Oliver F. Mintz of the Mintz Law Office and Damon A. Goff of The Goff law Firm.
Harris County District Court case number 2022-74806