Summary: A Mississippi attorney sued her former law firm for “reneging” on their financial obligations in the form of bonuses and increased salary to her.
Mississippi attorney Sheila M. Bossier is suing a Dallas-area law firm for not following through on their promise of compensation to her. Bossier, a licensed attorney for 27 years that resides in Madison County, Mississippi, filed her lawsuit in Hinds County Circuit Court.
In the lawsuit, Bossier lists her firm, Bossier & Associates PLLC, as a plaintiff. The defendants listed are Dallas law firm Freese & Goss PLLC, attorneys Richard A. Freese and Tim K. Goss, and various other unnamed people.
She alleges that the firm failed to pay the full amount of money promised to her in a 2013 partnership agreement. This included bonuses and an increased salary in the fall of 2015. She wrote, “Bossier devoted nearly a decade of her legal career advancing the Defendants’ professional and financial goals. Despite making millions of dollars in profit, the Defendants reneged on their financial obligations and promises to Bossier, which included promises to substantially share contingency fee recoveries with her.”
She continued, “Simply put, the Defendants fraudulently induced Bossier into working exclusively for them, enjoyed the benefits of her labor, and then kept the money earned as a result of her efforts for themselves.” She then claims that in an act of retaliation when she confronted them about the money she was shorted, that they forced her out of the law firm and committed “further tortious acts.”
Freese & Goss filed a notice of removal for the lawsuit to be moved to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi, Northern Division. The next day they filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit. They now contend that the federal court should either drop the lawsuit or move it to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Dallas Division.
The basis for their motion to dismiss is a failure by Bossier to file a compulsory counterclaim in the Northern District of Texas. A number of motions and suits have been filed by both parties in multiple districts.
Bossier is seeking compensatory damages, extra-contractual, punitive and consequential damages, pre- and post-judgment interest, costs of litigation and attorneys’ fees.
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To learn more about others that have sued their former employers, read these articles:
- TV Host Charlie Rose Sued for Not Paying Intern’s Wages
- Loeb & Loeb Sued by Former Bankruptcy Partner
- Dissolving Firm Butler & Hosch Sued by the Employees They Had to Fire
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