Client Sues Texas Attorney Over Failed Arbitration

Our reader Pat Winslow sent us a rather unusual case filed last year in Tarrant County, Texas. In Scott W. Mooring v. Strasburger (No. 231985) (Aug. 18, 2008) Scott W. Moorig sued Charles M. Hosch and his employer, the law firm Strasburger & Price, LLP, for breach of contract and fraud. Mooring claims that he hired Hosch to conduct an arbitration between himself and two former business associates. The complaint alleges that Hosch took the money and never rendered a final arbitration award. The most bizarre part of the allegations is found on page 3:

At one point during the underlying arbitration proceeding, Defendant Hosch suggested that Plaintiff’s opponent should commission a symphony in honor of Plaintiff’s spouse as opposed to going further with the arbitration. Plaintiff had paid Defendants to conduct an arbitration and found the symphony suggestion strange, unprofessional, and demonstrated a lack of understanding the gravity of the arbitration.

Apparently, the suggestion was not received with gusto by Mooring and he is now seeking actual damages for a half-million dollars, plus punitive damages and attorneys’ fees.

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arbitration, ADR, law, Strasburger & Price, LLP