Austin Attorneys Win Arbitration Against Employment Claims

Austin attorneys Stephanie Rojo, Christian Vieira, and Samantha Lewis prevailed in a commercial/employment arbitration, and obtained a significant award in favor of their clients for attorneys’ fees incurred during and before the arbitration process.

The Thompson Coe team represented another reputable law firm and a large group of shareholders who had voted in favor of a long-term shareholder’s termination from their firm. The terminated shareholder sued the Firm’s clients alleging wrongful termination, breach of fiduciary duty, and defamation. Our team succeeded in compelling arbitration, and then the Plaintiff failed to pursue his claims in arbitration, instead leaving his lawsuit pending for a lengthy period of time.

In an effort to obtain a resolution, we initiated arbitration on behalf of the client law firm and one of the shareholders, and sought declaratory relief that the firm and named shareholders had the right to take the action they did with respect to the termination decision. The terminated shareholder filed counterclaims again alleging wrongful termination, breach of fiduciary duty, and defamation.

The arbitrator found that our clients had the right to take the termination action that they did, and that the Plaintiff should not prevail on his breach of fiduciary duty, wrongful termination, and defamation claims and awarded attorneys fees of over $780,000.