MMA Law Firm, PLLC v. MORRIS BART, LLC

INRE:
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF TEXAS
HOUSTON DIVISION
MMA LAW FIRM, PLLC
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CIVIL ACTION NO. 4:24-CV-04446
ADVERSARY PRO. NO. 24-3127
ORDER
Pending before this Court is Appellee MMA Law Firm's ("MMA") Emergency Motion
Requesting this Court to Withdraw Its Certification Request to the Louisiana Supreme Court. (Doc.
No. 56). Appellant Morris Bart, LLC's ("Morris Bart") filed a response in opposition. (Doc. No.
60). After this Court withdrew the reference from the Bankruptcy Court nearly a year and a half
ago, see (Doc. No . 5) , it has endeavored to resolve "a ll matters concerning the fees in the Former
Cases collected by Morris Bart" as expeditiously as possible.
On January 23, 2026, this Court partially ruled on "Morris Bart's Motion for Summary
Judgment filed directly in this Court" and "Morris Bart's appeal of the Bankruptcy Court order
denying a similar Motion for Summary Judgment filed in the underlying adversary proceeding."
(Doc. No. 41 at 2). While those Motions discussed substantive Louisiana state law, the Court chose
only to address one specific issue: whether MMA waived its right to collect attorneys' fees or costs
in the Eastern District of Louisiana. The Court clearly set out that "[g]iven the nature of the subject
of this litigation and the somewhat dramatic history that Louisiana courts have with MMA, this
Court plans to submit a certification request to the Supreme Court of Louisiana with certain
questions related to the substantive state law that relate to the claim that MMA is precluded from
recovering attorneys' fees or costs." (Id. at 10). It has subsequently done so. In that Order on the
United States District Court
Southern District of Texas
ENTERED
March 25, 2026
Nathan Ochsner, Clerk
Case 4:24-cv-04446 Document 61 Filed 03/25/26 in TXSD Page 1 of 3

Motions for Summary Judgment, (id.) , the Court stated that "this Order will not broach the topics
that will be addressed in the certification request." (Id.). Further, the Court held that it "wi ll sever
this [waiver] issue from the other issues based on substantive Louisiana state law included in this
Motion (and which may be the subject of a certification request to the Supreme Court of
Louisiana), so that this Order becomes final and appealable." (Id. at 33).
Just as the Order laid out, this Court severed "the issue relating to the collection of
attorneys' fees and costs in any case filed in the Eastern District of Louisiana on or before March
15 , 2024 from the remaining pending issues in this matter, so that the Order after the entry of a
judgment is final and appealable." (No. 4:26-CV-00642, Doc. No. 1). In fact, MMA immediately
filed a Notice of Appeal to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. (No. 4:26-CV-
00642, Doc. No. 17).
After the Court severed this issue out of the main proceedings, the Court granted Morris
Bart's Motion for Certification of Questions of Law to the Louisiana Supreme Court (Doc. No.
45) and submitted a Certification Request to the Honorable Supreme Court of Louisiana (Doc. No.
46). This Certification Request addressed issues completely outside of the subject matter of the
severed action, including somewhat complex issues of substantive state law related to the
allocation of attorneys' fees between an original law firm and successor law firm. (Id.). The
Certification Request, which has recently been granted by the Honorable Court (Doc. No. 60-1 ),
did not address the issue of the waiver of fees in the Eastern District of Louisiana- 	that issue was
severed into a separate action that is now been appealed to the Fifth Circuit.
The Court finds that there is no overlap or conflict between the pending appeal before the
Fifth Circuit and the pending Certification in the Supreme Court of Louisiana. The resolution of
both issues- 	legally and substantively separate from one another- 	will streamline the resolution
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of the dispute between Morris Bart and MMA, as well as perhaps other pending cases before this
Court involving MMA and other successor law firms .
Accordingly, this Court hereby DENIES MMA's Motion to Withdraw (Doc. No. 56) and
STAYS this action during the pendency of the Certification to the Supreme Court of Louisiana and
the appeal to the Fifth Circuit. All pending motions are denied as moot but may be reraised upon
the termination of the stay.
It is so ordered .
.........~
Signed on this the 	'Z~ day of March 2026.
Andrew S. Hanen
United States District Judge
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