Attorney who contracted to split fees must pay up

It’s not uncommon for attorneys who have agreed to split fees to end up in a fee fight. That’s what happened when Houston attorney Enrique Dovalina tried to collect fees that Boerne attorney Robert P. Wilson had agreed to pay him. In a July 16 decision, a unanimous 4th Court of Appeals in San Antonio affirmed the 57th District Court’s judgment in Wilson v. Dovalina. The trial court held that Wilson, of the Law Offices of Robert P. Wilson, owes Dovalina, a partner in Dovalina & Enrique, $56,725 in damages and $10,000 in fees for refusing to pay fees following a settlement of a case on which both attorneys had worked. The 4th Court’s opinion provides the following background on the case: Auto dealer Rick Perez asked Wilson in 2002 to evaluate claims Perez might have against Daimler Chrysler. Perez also contacted Dovalina to assist with litigating the suit that Perez filed against Daimler Chrysler in 2003. Wilson wrote in a letter to Dovalina that Dovalina would receive 10 percent of the attorneys’ fees.  After the suit settled in 2004, Dovalina contacted Wilson to ask for his share of the attorneys’ fees, but Wilson contended that Dovalina was not entitled to any fees, because Perez had terminated Dovalina before the case settled. According to the 4th Court’s opinion, Wilson and Perez filed a suit seeking a declaratory judgment that Dovalina breached the agreement to represent Perez, and Dovalina filed a counterclaim. The trial court found that the fee contract was between Wilson and Dovalina and entered a judgment against Wilson, who appealed to the 4th Court. The 4th Court found that there is some evidence to support the trial court’s finding that Wilson never tried to fire Dovalina or retract the fee agreement until after the case settled. “There never was any termination, as far as I know,” Dovalina says in an interview. Wilson did not immediately return a telephone call seeking comment.
-- Mary Alice Robbins