HOUSTON – A Texas law firm is facing a negligence lawsuit, alleging that they botched a contract review and advised a company to sign a legal agreement, which cost the company millions of dollars, causing them to go out of business.
Panterra Development and Panterra GP filed the lawsuit in Harris County District Court against Andrews Myers, P.C. and Linda Emery, citing negligence.
According to court documents, in 2017, the plaintiffs were negotiating a contract to perform construction services for a Studio Movie Grill (SMG) in California. The plaintiffs state that they hired Andrew Meyers, P.C. to review the contract and that Emery performed the review on behalf of the firm. The lawsuit states that the defendants' review of the contract was inaccurate and failed to take into account the particulars of California law. The defendants allegedly told the plaintiffs that the contract protected them and their legal interests and advised them to sign the contract.
California law states that only contractors licensed to do business in the state of California may do work and receive compensation for work done in the state. Panterra GP was licensed as a contractor in California, but the contract approved by Andrews was between SMG and Panterra Development, which is not licensed as a contractor in California.
The plaintiffs claim that SMG took advantage of the defendant's oversight by refusing to pay them for work performed in California and also ceased paying them for work being conducted in other states as well. The plaintiffs estimate the loss to be approximately $3 million. The plaintiffs claim that SMG also filed a lawsuit against them to seek disgorgement of more than $7 million it had already paid them. The dispute allegedly led to more than $2 million in legal fees for the plaintiffs, and after they won their legal case in California, SMG went bankrupt, leaving the plaintiffs no way to recover their expended legal fees. The plaintiffs state that after the massive losses, the company was forced to close its doors.
The plaintiffs claim that the defendants were negligent in their failure to properly review and analyze the contract between them and SMG and their failure to recognize the application of California law to the contract.
The plaintiffs are seeking damages plus interest and any other relief the court deems proper. They are represented by attorney J. Mark Perrin of The Perrin Law Firm in Dallas.
Harris County District Court case number 2023-78610 / Court: 189