assertion_id,filing_id,assertion
1,1,"Pohl engaged Precision Marketing Group to provide public relations, evidence gathering, and client liaison services"
2,1,"While working for Pohl, Precision gained access to confidential information regarding up to 10,000 or more clients/prospective clients"
3,1,"The confidential information included client identities, contact information, attorney-client fee agreements, specialized legal forms, proprietary administrative forms, internal emails, and marketing information"
4,1,"Favre and Precision, with Nicholson's assistance, stole physical copies of information, stole Pohl's computers, and misappropriated electronic data"
5,1,"Favre secretly sold the stolen confidential information to Kassab and Montague for $250,000 in cash plus substantial bonuses"
6,1,Kassab and Montague knew the information was stolen and not Favre's to sell
7,1,Kassab used the stolen information to solicit Pohl's clients to bring barratry and other cases against Pohl
8,1,"A prior federal lawsuit (No. 1:14-cv-381-KS-JCG, Southern District of Mississippi) was resolved by a Confidential Settlement Agreement in late April/early May 2017"
9,1,The Settlement Agreement required Favre and Precision to return all originals and copies of documents concerning Pohl's clients and to delete all electronically-stored information
10,1,Nicholson simultaneously served as counsel for Favre/Precision in the settlement and as co-counsel with Kassab/Montague in claims against Pohl
11,1,"Favre and Precision breached the Settlement Agreement by failing to return documents, failing to delete ESI, and causing claims to be filed against Pohl"
12,1,Kassab is described as a lawyer who specializes in suing other lawyers
13,1,"Pohl seeks monetary relief in excess of $1,000,000.00"
14,1,Pohl timely and fully performed the Settlement Agreement
15,1,All conditions precedent to Pohl maintaining this action have been performed or have occurred
16,2,Kassab filed four lawsuits on behalf of over 400 clients against Pohl in four different courts in Harris County alleging civil barratry and conspiracy to commit barratry
17,2,"Pohl conspired with his wife Donalda Pohl, paralegal Edgar Jaimes, and three Mississippi runners (Walker, Seymour, Ladner) to illegally solicit clients"
18,2,"Donalda Pohl owns Helping Hands Financing, LLC ('HH Texas'), a sham lending company used to solicit accident victims; Jaimes runs its day-to-day operations"
19,2,"Walker, Seymour, and Ladner owned Precision Marketing Group, LLC and two other sham companies (Helping Hands Group, LLC and Helping Hands Financial, LLC)"
20,2,"For BP litigation, runners went door-to-door soliciting clients; Precision paid runners $300-$400 per client; Pohl paid Precision up to $1,500 per client"
21,2,"Pohl offered to pay Walker, Seymour, and Ladner a percentage of legal fees disguised as an hourly rate of $1,500 per hour"
22,2,"For auto accidents, Pohl used Google Alerts to identify crashes, then sent runners to hospitals, homes, and funerals to solicit victims"
23,2,"For auto accidents, Pohl paid runners as much as $7,500 per client and promised runners as much as 33% of Pohl's legal fees on the back end"
24,2,"HH Texas paid HH Mississippi $2,500 for every client referred to HH Texas as an additional layer between Pohl and runners"
25,2,Runners used Helping Hands to offer money to victims conditioned on signing contracts allowing selection of Pohl as attorney
26,2,Pohl helped runners form the 'GM Settlement Verification Team' to impersonate a General Motors entity and solicit ignition-switch recall victims
27,2,"Walker, Ladner, and Precision received over $5 million in 'barratry pass-through money' from Pohl and other lawyers"
28,2,Walker testified the payments were 'clear to [him] it was barratry' and considered himself 'a pass-through for barratry money'
29,2,"Magdalena Santana swore under oath that Pohl sent her on 'dozens and dozens of car wreck cases' and agreed to pay her $5,000 per case plus a percentage of fees"
30,2,Pohl told Santana that minorities 'were especially vulnerable' and 'were easier to sign up'
31,2,"Pohl paid Santana $50,000 in cash (delivered by Jaimes in bags marked 'trick or treat') to sign a gag agreement/retraction of her affidavit"
32,2,"Santana testified the first solicitation involved a case where a woman and her unborn child lost their lives; she was instructed to visit the funeral and told 'take no prisoners, this is a cut throat business'"
33,2,Kenneth 'Coach' Talley solicited over 20 auto accident cases and more than 800 BP claims for Pohl
34,2,"Talley carried blank Pohl contracts and up to $1,000 to pay accident victims, but only after they 'were signed up'"
35,2,"Talley was paid $1,400 plus expenses per auto accident case by Pohl through Walker, plus a portion of fees paid to Helping Hands"
36,2,Talley testified both he and Pohl knew what they were doing was illegal; Talley was once 'run out of town' while soliciting
37,2,Walker was eventually indicted and sent to prison; Pohl then refused to pay runners promised fees
38,2,Pohl has judicially admitted that Kassab contacted Pohl's clients and filed suit against Pohl on behalf of these clients
39,2,Pohl admitted that a barratry claim is not a legal malpractice case and the discovery rule does not apply
40,2,Kassab has been assigned 150 barratry claims as of the filing date
41,2,"Pohl's suit against Kassab is retaliatory, filed because Kassab represented Pohl's former clients and filed grievances"
42,3,"Pohl was introduced to Walker, Maxwell, Robinson, and Seymour in April 2012 and Ladner approximately six to eight weeks later, all holding themselves out as professional, experienced marketing consultants"
43,3,PR Consultants represented they had their own Mississippi attorneys who reviewed and approved all contracts and confirmed services were lawful
44,3,"The agreement provided for hourly fees, retainer, and expenses capped at 21% of LOMAP's 40% interest in the BP representation — not a percentage-of-fees payment"
45,3,"The percentage-of-attorney's-fees clause was a ceiling/cap on maximum amounts, not an independent promise to pay a percentage; this was orally discussed and understood by all parties before execution"
46,3,Pohl never agreed to simply pay a percentage of attorney's fees to the PR Consultants
47,3,"PR Consultants were solely responsible for hiring, paying, tax withholding, supervising, and issuing tax forms for all employees and contractors"
48,3,"In the Federal Court Lawsuit, PR Consultants themselves alleged hourly-rate payment basis and denied entitlement to any percentage of fees (Exhibit 1-A)"
49,3,"PR Consultants' services were substandard: improperly vetted claims, inadequately trained and supervised staff"
50,3,"PR Consultants were primarily supposed to run information booths at public events (boat shows, local festivals) and answer follow-up telephone calls"
51,3,PR Consultants sent falsified and inflated invoices with 'PAID' stamps dated before preparation dates and systematically overcharged Pohl
52,3,"PR Consultants charged up to $1,000/week in fictitious 'miscellaneous marketing' expenses from approximately March 2013 through September 2013"
53,3,Walker admitted the 'miscellaneous marketing' characterizations were not truthful when confronted
54,3,PR Consultants secretly diverted hundreds of claimants to competing attorneys while being paid by Pohl for exclusive services
55,3,PR Consultants marketed their own services to competing attorneys offering reduced rates since Pohl was paying their overhead
56,3,The term 'barratry fees' was never used before Pohl's counterclaims in the Federal Court Lawsuit — it was concocted after PR Consultants were caught stealing
57,3,Nicholson and Favre both stated that PR Consultants admitted to stealing from Pohl (Exhibit 1-B)
58,3,Ladner admitted absconding with approximately 17 containers of client files from Pohl's office
59,3,"PR Consultants and Nicholson refused to return four computers belonging to Pohl containing software, data, legal forms, trade secrets, and work product"
60,3,Favre purchased the stolen materials despite being informed they were stolen; it appears Kassab eventually bought them from Favre
61,3,"Julia Porter and Monica Chaney set up and operated a website using Pohl's name without authorization; Pohl sent cease and desist letters (Exhibits 1-D, 1-E)"
62,3,Christopher Forrest appeared in May 2017 with a Pohl fee agreement — over three years after Pohl stopped accepting BP claims (Exhibit 1-F)
63,3,Pohl did not instruct PR Consultants to improperly solicit any persons and denies engaging in conspiracy to commit barratry
64,3,"Pohl's fee arrangement with Williamson was a 60/40 split (60% Williamson, 40% Pohl) consistent with Texas law, with flexibility based on actual contribution"
65,3,"The $1,500/hour rate was considered excessive but accepted only because of the percentage cap"
66,3,Pohl closed his Mississippi satellite office in February 2014
67,3,Precision Marketing Group succeeded Maxwell-Walker in January 2013
68,4,Montague Defendants had no attorney-client relationship with Pohl
69,4,Montague Defendants were not parties to the underlying Pohl litigation with Favre and Precision
70,4,Montague Defendants were not parties to or attorneys for parties to the Pohl settlement agreement
71,4,"The referral of cases to specialists is a type of professional service that routinely and commonly falls within services an attorney would provide, thereby providing attorney immunity from liability"
72,4,"There is no basis to assert a claim of liability for conversion, theft of trade secrets, conspiracy, or otherwise against attorneys who are simply discharging traditional legal tasks"
73,4,Plaintiffs' only link to Montague Defendants for each pled tort hinges on the bald assertion that they 'knew' confidential information had been stolen
74,4,Plaintiffs have no basis to allege Montague Defendants knew information was stolen
75,4,The referral of a possible case is not an unlawful act and cannot support tort claims against these Defendants
76,4,"If defendant's liability for underlying tort is foreclosed as matter of law, there is no claim for conspiracy (citing Frankoff v. Norman)"
77,4,Plaintiffs' own actions and decisions were not reasonable under the circumstances and charted the course for this dispute
78,5,"Pohl testified under oath that Kassab, Nicholson, Montague, and others stole his files and robbed his Mississippi office"
79,5,Pohl accused Kassab and co-counsel of hacking his computers and soliciting his clients with lies and material omissions to initiate suits against him
80,5,Pohl testified the crew's actions caused his clients 'to suffer damages in their own case and not get the money they were entitled to'
81,5,"When pressed, Pohl clarified he did not personally witness who broke in — 'I wasn't there, and I didn't see who actually broke in and I didn't see who hacked my computer'"
82,5,"Pohl consistently referred to 'you, your co-counsel and your crew' rather than attributing acts to Kassab personally"
83,5,"Pohl alleged the theft occurred at his Gulfport, Mississippi office around 2014 and continued into 2015-2016 in connection with the closing of the office"
84,5,"Pohl alleged Favre paid Walker and Ladner $85,000 to rob his office based on 'private documents that I got'"
85,5,Pohl alleged additional money was paid to hack his computers and sell passwords to Kassab or his co-counsel
86,5,Pohl admitted he filed no police report anywhere regarding the alleged office robbery and theft
87,5,Pohl admitted he had not filed a grievance with the State Bar against Kassab
88,5,Pohl admitted he had not contacted the Harris County DA about the alleged theft
89,5,Pohl admitted he had not contacted the Texas Attorney General about the alleged theft
90,5,Pohl explained the events 'didn't occur in Texas' so the Harris County DA 'would have nothing to do with it anyway'
91,5,Pohl's only law enforcement contact was speaking to a retired District Attorney in Oklahoma about 'the feasibility of filing charges'
92,5,Pohl explained his inaction by saying he 'prayed about it and hoped that a just result would ensue' and wanted to 'spend time to reflect on it before taking action' and not do anything 'precipitous'
93,5,Pohl stated the criminals were 'extorting money from me and they wanting millions of dollars for the return of my stolen goods'
94,5,"When asked for evidence of password sale, Pohl admitted 'I haven't marshaled all the evidence'"
95,5,"Pohl identified the 'crew' as Kassab, Tina Nicholson, Doug Montague, June Allison, Kirk Ladner, Scott Walker, and Scott Favre"
96,6,"Pohl, Williamson, and Rusnak formed a joint venture and conspiracy to commit barratry in violation of Texas Penal Code § 38.12 and multiple disciplinary rules"
97,6,"The conspiracy illegally solicited approximately 9,800-10,000 prospective BP Deepwater Horizon clients along the Gulf Coast"
98,6,"Pohl, Williamson, and Rusnak agreed to split fees 40% (Pohl) / 60% (Williamson and Rusnak)"
99,6,"Beginning April 2012, Pohl hired Walker, Seymour, and later Ladner as runners to solicit clients"
100,6,"Dane Maxwell and CMV Investigations hired in early May 2012 to cold-call clients at $1,000 per client; paid up to $2.47 million"