EDWARDSVILLE — An Alton attorney is accused of improperly retaining court awarded fees and expenses and failing to inform his clients of additional interest payments he received.
Kathleen Levy, formerly known as Kathleen Bone, and Melissa Favier filed a complaint March 31 in the Madison County Circuit Court against Lee Barron, alleging breach of fiduciary duty and breach of contract.
According to the plaintiffs' complaint, they retained attorney Lee Barron in 2008 to represent them in a case against Coyle Mechanical Supply, Inc., et al., which was tried before a judge without a jury in 2013. The trial court awarded the plaintiffs "a substantial monetary judgement," along with an award for attorney's fees and expenses, according to their complaint. The plaintiffs also claim Barron represented them in the appeal of the case in June 2017, where the court upheld the award of $139,292.64 for attorney's fees and costs that was originally awarded in April 2014. The plaintiffs allege Barron "improperly retained" all of their award for attorney's fee and expenses from March 10, 2009, through March 25, 2014, and that they had already paid Barron "at least" $98,400 "or more" for his services from that time period. The plaintiffs further allege Barron did not "initially inform" them of the additional $37,609 interest payment he received from the defendants in their original lawsuit.
The plaintiffs are represented by Peter Fiore, III of Summers Compton Wells LLC in St. Louis.
Madison County Circuit Court case number 21-L-000401