Asbestos fee agreement turning to dust?

A South Carolina firm wants to end an agreement with a Texas plaintiff's firm to share fees generated through asbestos cases filed by Canadians in U.S. courts. In Motley Rice LLC, et al. v. Baldwin & Baldwin LLP, initially filed in South Carolina state court on March 26 but eventually transferred to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas on Nov. 7, South Carolina firm Motley Rice says that its predecessor firm contracted in the 1990s with Marshall-based Baldwin & Baldwin to work on asbestos cases filed in Texas state courts involving Canadians. A 1997 change in Texas law affecting jurisdiction prevented further litigation in Texas courts involving the claims, the suit alleges, "amounting to a failure of the essential consideration for any fee-sharing agreement." In two other agreements involving Baldwin & Baldwin and asbestos claims filed by Canadians, the suit alleges that the Texas firm allegedly  made "no substantial contribution." Motley Rice seeks a court declaration to "clarify, reform and/or rescind the terms of the co-counsel/fee-sharing agreements" with Baldwin & Baldwin.
-- Jonathan Fox