The class action lawsuit, filed in Bergen County, N.J., claims that the Nagel Rice law firm (Roseland, N.J.) and the Potts Law Firm (Houston, Texas) filed a complaint on behalf of plaintiff Debbie Gore of Dickinson, Texas, in 2014 without a valid New Jersey retainer agreement, the Law Journal reported. Gore claims that her retainer agreement allowed for a 40% contingency fee. New Jersey law limits product liability contingency fees to a maximum of 33-1/3%.
The two firms filed about 1,450 similar suits against Ethicon and C.R. Bard in New Jersey state court, according to the newspaper. At least four other Houston firms have been accused of legal malpractice.
Gore’s attorney, Adam Slater of Mazie Slater Katz & Freeman in Roseland, declined to comment to the Law Journal about the complaint. Defendant Derek Potts of the Potts law firm did not respond to the newspaper’s requests for comment. The defendants have until July 2 to respond to the lawsuit, the Law Journal reported.
Nagel reportedly told the Law Journal that Mazie Slater partner David Mazie — Slater’s former law partner until the firm broke up in 2006 — filed the new suit in retaliation for a $40 million malpractice suit that Nagel’s firm filed against Mazie.
“This firm is also suing other firms for giving them a minuscule share of the $500 million fees in the mesh (multi-district litigation)” Nagel reportedly wrote in an email to the Law Journal. Mazie denied that claim.
Nagel and Potts did not immediately respond to phone messages. David Mazie declined to comment to MassDevice.
Attorneys have filed more than 100,000 lawsuits over transvaginal mesh implants, according to published reports. Plaintiffs have won hundreds of millions of dollars at trial and in settlements.