A doctor claims in court that an attorney
who owes him $148,000 in fees had him falsely arrested, and sends him $250
checks marked as "Full and final settlement," for bills that actually
run into the thousands. Dr. Sameer Fino sued Stephen W.
Shoultz in Dallas County Court.
Fino claims he sees Shoultz's
clients under a "long standing agreement," and gets paid when each
case settles or when final judgment is collected. He says Shoultz often asked
him to reduce his fees to accommodate a settlement.
"Dr. Fino would agree to the reduction in fees, however, on a number of
occasions, he was not paid the amount that was agreed to in writing," the
complaint states.
"Instead, attorney Schoultz
would consistently send a check for a nominal amount such as $250 which read
'Full and final settlement,' even in cases in which Dr. Fino would testify at
attorney Schoultz's request. These checks were not cashed."
Fino claims Schoultz sent him such
a check for a $2,800 fee that he later agreed to reduce to $1,400. He says he
was shocked when he received a copy of a disbursement sheet that Shoultz
provided to the patient/client for that case. "The
disbursement sheet given to the client fraudulently showed that Dr. Fino had
been paid the $1,400 he had agreed to reduce his fee to, not the $250 that the
check was made out for," the complaint states.
Fino claims Shoultz owes him more
than $148,000 in unpaid fees. He also complains that
Shoultz contacted him on Feb. 18, 2011, about a trial that required his
testimony that was set to begin in four days.
Fino says he told Shoultz he would be out of
town, yet Shoultz caused a trial subpoena to be delivered to him on Feb. 21,
2011.
"Dr. Fino was not personally
served with the subpoena, and did not see it prior to the time for trial,"
the complaint states. "On or about February
23, 2011, Dr. Fino was arrested at his clinic, and taken out of there in front
of his patients, for an alleged failure to attend the trial pursuant to the
subpoena, and taken before the judge to determine if he would be jailed for
contempt." Fino claims that Shoultz caused a
capias writ to be entered by the court, resulting in his arrest.
He says that though he was not
jailed, his medical practice was disrupted and he was "highly
embarrassed" to be taken away by deputy sheriffs.
Fino seeks actual and punitive
damages for breach of contract, money had and received, fraud, unjust enrichment,
abuse of process, malicious prosecution and gross negligence. He is represented by Angela Norris, with Kennedy
& Minshew, of Sherman.
I have tremendous respect for medical doctors in general. All I want is an honest answer of whether trauma caused the condition, the reasonable expenses to resolve it and the prognosis. It seems to me that these two characters apparently had something going on and I am not sure who is worse than the other.
