Texas real estate investor Nate Paul pays up in Gibson Dunn fee fight
Signage is seen outside of the legal offices of the Gibson Dunn & Crutcher law firm in Washington, DC, U.S., May 10, 2021. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly
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- Fight over legal fees escalated with new Texas lawsuit last month
- Gibson Dunn said Paul’s World Class Capital Group paid it more than $900,000
(Reuters) – Two weeks after Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher accused Texas real estate investor Nate Paul of scheming to hide millions of dollars to avoid paying legal fees he owed the firm, it now says the bill has been paid.
Gibson Dunn said in court papers Tuesday that Paul’s World Class Capital Group has paid it $924,584.37, satisfying an adverse ruling the former client suffered in the New York County Supreme Court in July 2020.
Gibson Dunn escalated his long-running legal fee fight with Paul when it sued him on March 30 in Travis County District Court in Texas. The Los Angeles-founded firm accused Paul of transferring $87 million out of World Class’ bank account to family members and other entities under his control in an effort to avoid paying the law firm and others.
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Gibson Dunn named Paul and World Class as defendants, as well as Paul’s sister, father and the mother of his children.
Mitchell Shapiro, a New York lawyer representing World Class, said the payment mooted all of Gibson Dunn’s claims, including those in his Travis County lawsuit. Shapiro called the firm’s allegations in the Texas lawsuit “baseless and defamatory harassment.”
Shapiro said the judgment was satisfied “without any admission of liability.” He criticized Gibson Dunn’s “scorched earth litigation tactics” to recoup legal fees on work that his client regarded as “virtually worthless.”
Gibson Dunn had performed financing and capital markets work for World Class in 2016 and 2017, it said in court documents alleging World Class refused to pay its legal fees.
The two sides entered arbitration in 2018, and Gibson Dunn won a final award of $870,633.63. Gibson Dunn South World Class to affirm the arbitration award in 2020.
A spokesperson for Gibson Dunn did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
An unrelated civil lawsuit first filed in November 2020 accused Paul of bribing Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who allegedly misused his powers to help Paul, according to press reports. The lawsuit was filed by former employees of the attorney general’s office whom Paxton had fired.
The lawsuit against Paxton is ongoing. A spokesperson for Paul declined to comment. Paxton has denied the bribery allegations. In August 2021, his office issued a 374-page report that determined there was “no evidence that Nate Paul attempted to bribe AG Paxton.”
The New York case is Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher v. World Class Capital Group, LLC, et al, New York County Supreme Court, Index No. 650318/2020.
For Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher: Mitchell Karlan, Nealofar Panjshiri and Eric Hornbeck of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher
For World Class Capital Group: Mitchell Shapiro, of MC Shapiro Law Group, and Jeb Singer, of J. Singer Law Group
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David Thomas