5th Circuit Affirms Dismissal of $2.1M Atty Fee Fight From Texas Court

March 24, 2022
Hall Benefits Law, LLC

A panel of the Fifth Circuit affirmed a Texas federal court decision to dismiss a Texas personal injury law firm’s $2.1 million referral fee lawsuit against an Ohio law firm. The Fifth Circuit agreed with Ohio law firm Morgan Verkamp that its reply to one unsolicited email from the Texas law firm of Danziger & De Llano did not create sufficient connections to subject it to Texas law. The case is Danziger & De Llano LLP v. Morgan Verkamp LLC et al., case number 21-20186, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

The referral fee dispute stems from a whistleblower suit filed by Michael Epp, a German citizen who lives in Dubai, against a military supply company. Danziger & De Llano claims they referred Epp to Morgan Verkamp and worked with him to file the suit in 2007, but Epp stopped communicating with them. Danziger previously had referred clients in two other whistleblower suits to Morgan Verkamp.

However, Epp eventually retained Morgan Verkamp only in 2010 and ended up with a favorable result, including a $6.4 million attorney fee award for the Ohio law firm. Danziger reached out to Morgan Verkamp via email to inquire if a publicized settlement involved Epp, which the Ohio law firm denied; the integrity of this email remains in dispute.

In January 2020, Danziger filed suit against Morgan Verkamp in the Southern District of Texas, alleging fraud, unjust enrichment, tortious interference, and breach of contract. A district court judge tossed out the claims in March 2021, finding that Morgan Verkamp’s contacts with Texas were “merely random or attenuated and based on plaintiff’s unilateral activities.” Danziger then appealed the dismissal of its claims to the Fifth Circuit, seeking reversal of the district court judge’s decision.

This is Danziger’s second failed attempt to collect on a referral fee from the Epp case. The Texas law firm initially filed its claims against Morgan Verkamp in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. That federal district court also dismissed the claims, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit affirmed the dismissal. Danziger filed its suit in the Southern District of Texas the same day.

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Hall Benefits Law, LLC

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