Lawsuit aims to stop ‘deceptive solicitations’
Attorney general files suit against law firm accused of deceiving Woodmore victims
“Following the tragedy, our office committed to shutting down any attempt to take advantage of the families in Chattanooga. This lawsuit reflects our ongoing effort.” –TENNESSEE ATTORNEY GENERAL HERBERT SLATERY III
The Tennessee Attorney General’s Office filed a lawsuit Wednesday against a Texas law firm accused of deceiving Woodmore victims for profit in the days after the deadly November school bus crash.
“Following the tragedy, our office committed to shutting down any attempt to take advantage of the families in Chattanooga,” Attorney General Herbert Slatery III said in a prepared statement. “This lawsuit reflects our ongoing effort.”
The suit, filed in Hamilton County Chancery Court, requests a court order to stop the Witherspoon Law Group from its “unfair, deceptive, and misleading in-person solicitations of accident victims and their families” and to make the firm turn over any “ill-gotten profits” and re-evaluate any contracts it signed that violate consumer protection laws in Tennessee.
It names attorney Nuru Witherspoon and his employees, Alphonso McClendon and Glenn Smith, both business marketing consultants for the Dallas law firm that specializes in personal injury and wrongful death cases.
“[These] defendants target victims of recent catastrophes, approach them at funeral homes, misrepresent their status as attorneys, and attempt to procure signed attorney fee agreements that incorporate litigation finance contracts,” the lawsuit says.
“The defendants do not fully explain the content of these documents,” the suit continues, “intentionally misleading traumatized victims and family members in order to unlawfully profit from these vulnerable individuals.”
Witherspoon, who has yet to be served, did not return a request for comment Wednesday. But last year he denied unlawfully soliciting anyone in Tennessee and said his group operates like any national law firm.
The Times Free Press reported in December that Witherspoon and other out-oftown law firms flocked to victims after a bus overturned on Talley Road with 37 Woodmore Elementary School children aboard. Six children died as a result of the Nov. 21 crash and several were severely injured.
Some firms contacted grieving families directly, talking them into legal agreements that would funnel more money to the attorney, or sent an agent into funeral homes to persuade them to sign up on the spot, according to records and interviews.
But that behavior runs afoul of the Tennessee Rules of Professional Conduct, which say attorneys must wait 30 days before they can contact people about litigation after a serious accident. They can be reprimanded or disbarred if they violate the rule.
In December, Slatery vowed to use his “full authority” to prosecute any attorneys who violate consumer protection laws through solicitations.
Witherspoon has been accused of similar behavior by two clients in other cities, including Memphis. Attorney Jimmy Blount said Wednesday his client, Marshe’ Myers, is still fighting to escape a legal agreement with Witherspoon that sends a cut of her possible settlement to a purchasing company not registered to participate in litigation in Tennessee.
Wednesday’s lawsuit details her story, along with that of Misti Nash, who was approached by McClendon at the Taylor Funeral Home while shopping for a casket for her 9-year-old daughter, Zoie.
McClendon also approached Cornelius Jones on Nov. 22 at Taylor Funeral Home while Jones was arranging services for his daughter, Cordayja Jones, the suit says. McClendon told Jones the bus company had already offered $3 million as a potential settlement, the suit says. “McClendon even told Jones that he was attempting to raise this settlement amount to $4 million, informing Jones that he could keep half of this amount.”
Smith, the marketing consultant, sent Jones a $250 MoneyGram payment about a month later, the suit says. And McClendon, who is not a licensed attorney, called the next day to make sure Jones received it.
Jones turned around and wrote to Hamilton County District Attorney General Neal Pinkston asking for an investigation into McClendon for criminal impersonation, the suit says. Nash and her family also filed a report with the Chattanooga Police Department after their experience at the Taylor Funeral Home.
Once Witherspoon and his agents are served, they can file a response in Chancery Court and begin litigating.