Ex-client blamed failure to pay $500K BigLaw legal bill on lightning strike, Abu Dhabi bank
A federal appeals court is giving a former Winston & Strawn client another chance to respond to the law firm’s motion for summary judgment in its suit seeking to collect nearly $500,000 in attorney fees.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled last Friday that a federal judge was wrong to grant summary judgment to the law firm in its suit against former client James McLean Jr., the Am Law Litigation Daily reports.
McLean apparently never had the money to pay the legal bill, but he managed to persuade the law firm otherwise, the story says.
According to Winston & Strawn, McLean agreed to pay the law firm to represent an employee facing potential Justice Department litigation related to the employee’s prior company. McLean claims that any agreement to pay was contingent on future events that never occurred.
In any event, the article reports, there is no indication in the trial record that McLean ever had the money to pay Winston & Strawn for its four months of work. McLean said in a deposition that one of his companies never generated any income and the other never came into existence. He also said it would be a financial hardship to travel from South Carolina for a deposition and produced documents to verify the claim.
“Still, in the deposition transcript,” the article reports, “you get a taste of how he convinced the firms otherwise. He had a big deal pending with Shell, McLean claimed, a diesel fuel transaction worth $44 million. It was just held up at the moment due to logistical issues with two barges, but he was working with someone in Nigeria to get it resolved.”
Winston & Strawn partner Thomas Buchanan tells the Am Law Litigation Daily that DLA Piper vouched for McLean, who was supposedly married into a wealthy family. DLA Piper was “supposedly handling a transaction for [McLean] from which he was getting a large return from which he was going to pay us,” Buchanan said. “If the deal didn’t close he was going to pay us from other assets. Quite convincing unfortunately.”
McLean said in his deposition that he never paid legal bills of $300,000 from DLA Piper, yet he doesn’t owe the law firm anything. DLA Piper did not sue for the money, McLean said. A DLA Piper representative did not respond to the Am Law Litigation Daily’s request for comment.
McLean also cited excuses in emails to Winston & Strawn explaining why there was no payment. The article includes these examples from McLean’s emails, produced by Winston & Strawn:
• “Tom, The wire will be sent from Abu Dhabi on Sunday or Monday. It could take several days to get here. Bank is not open on Friday or Saturday.”
• “Tom, Since my house was hit by lightning I lost your bill and wiring instructions when the computers were fried. Please resend. I am expecting overseas money anytime.”
• “Tom, If the wire is not received by close of business Friday, I will be on a plane to UAE Sunday night to personally get the wire sent and raise hell.”
The Am Law Litigation Daily was unable to reach McLean for comment because his phone number is disconnected.
