Love & War
A $100 million mistake? Houston woman alleges legal screw-up in divorce from"extraordinarily wealthy" husband
When you've paid $3 million to your divorce lawyer, you probably think you're getting the best divorce (read: $$$$) that money can buy. But what if you're wrong and out $100 million? If you're Houston socialite Leticia Loya, you sue.
Loya has filed suit against her former divorce attorney, Harry L. Tindall, as well as his law firm, Tindall & England, alleging "multiple breaches of fiduciary duty" and accusing Tindall of negligence and malpractice. In 2008, Loya hired Tindall to represent her in her divorce from "extraordinarily wealthy" husband Miguel Loya, the CEO of Vitol, Inc.
Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, but also look out for a divorced woman who is out millions.
The story laid out in the petition should serve as a warning to procrastinators everywhere.
The Loyas were large stockholders in the company and recipients of a stock deal in which they exchanged their shares of Vitol for shares in Tinsel — like Vitol, a company under the larger umbrella of the Vitol Group. (According to other legal documents, Tinsel was created for the company's American stockholders for tax purposes.) The valuation was complicated by the presence of "stapling rights" which essentially added value to Tinsel shares by virtue of including new and upgraded Vitol stock every two years in perpetuity.
Leticia Loya's attorney hired an expert who valued the couple's stock, with stapling rights, at $150 million. Miguel Loya's expert assessed them at $30 million. But in 2010, Leticia Loya's expert was excluded from testifying at trial because Tindall had neglected to produce the documents the expert relied on to the court more than 48 hours in advance of the expert depostition.
"The ruling was, of course, devastating to her case," according to the suit.
Left with no expert witness, Leticia had no choice but to agree to arbitration and was "coerced by Tindall into accepting a value of far less than the actual value of the Tinsel shares," losing over $100 million in community asset value (according to her expert) of which she could claim a community share.
In the suit, Loya also claims that Tindall & England charged her "clearly outrageous, unreasonable and unconscionable" fees. Loya's attorney in the current suit, Benjamin L. Hall III, told Texas Lawyer that the fees were in excess of $3 million. She's suing to get her legal fees returned as well as for actual damages, which the suit lists at $150 million.
Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, but also look out for a divorced woman who is out millions.