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Tex. Gov't Code § 82.065

CONTRACT FOR LEGAL SERVICES

Applied in 11 court decisions — leading case Enochs v. Brown (1994)

Most recently applied in Dolores Narvaez, Luis Narvaez, Eduardo Velarde Betancourt, Jose Juan Velarde Avila, Julieta Duran, Luz Magdalena Escobar, and Jose Antonio Velarde Juarez v. Darron Powell, Darron Powell, PLLC, Hector Phillips, and Hector Phillips, P.C. (July 2018)

Added by Acts 1989, 71st Leg., ch. 866, Sec. 3, eff

How often courts cite this section

199420002010201820
citing decisions per year

Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.

(a) A contingent fee contract for legal services must be in writing and signed by the attorney and client.

(b) Any contract for legal services is voidable by the client if it is procured as a result of conduct violating Section 38.12(a) or (b), Penal Code, or Rule 7.03 of the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct of the State Bar of Texas, regarding barratry by attorneys or other persons.

(c) An attorney who was paid or owed fees or expenses under a contract that is voided under this section may recover fees and expenses based on a quantum meruit theory if the client does not prove that the attorney committed barratry or had actual knowledge, before undertaking the representation, that the contract was procured as a result of barratry by another person. To recover fees or expenses under this subsection, the attorney must have reported the misconduct as required by the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct of the State Bar of Texas, unless:

(1) another person has already reported the misconduct; or

(2) the attorney reasonably believed that reporting the misconduct would substantially prejudice the client's interests.

Official source: Texas Constitution and Statutes. Reproduced from public-domain Texas statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.