Evalyn Lewis v. Paul Laurence Law PLLC, and Paul Calabro

CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Washington
DecidedDecember 16, 2025
Docket2:25-cv-00087
StatusUnknown

This text of Evalyn Lewis v. Paul Laurence Law PLLC, and Paul Calabro (Evalyn Lewis v. Paul Laurence Law PLLC, and Paul Calabro) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Washington primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Evalyn Lewis v. Paul Laurence Law PLLC, and Paul Calabro, (E.D. Wash. 2025).

Opinion

1 Dec 16, 2025 2 SEAN F. MCAVOY, CLERK 3 4 5 6 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 7 EASTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON 8 9 EVALYN LEWIS, No. 2:25-CV-00087-SAB 10 Plaintiff, 11 v. 12 PAUL LAURENCE LAW PLLC, and ORDER GRANTING 13 PAUL CALABRO, DEFENDANT’S MOTION FOR 14 Defendants. SUMMARY JUDGMENT IN 15 PART 16 17 Before the Court is Defendants’ Motion for Partial Summary Judgment, ECF 18 No. 15. Plaintiff is represented by Gregory W. Albert. Defendants are represented 19 by Jeffrey T. Kestle. The motion was considered without oral argument. 20 Background 21 Defendant Paul Calabro (Defendant) is the owner of Paul Lawrence Law, 22 PLLC. Plaintiff hired Defendant in connection with the potential recovery of assets 23 from Plaintiff’s late brother’s estate and/or trust. Fourteen months after the 24 representation ended, Plaintiff filed an action against Defendant in the Spokane 25 County Superior Court to resolve an alleged attorney’s lien and Defendant filed 26 compulsory counterclaims for specific performance and breach of contract. The 27 court rejected Plaintiff’s petition as Defendant never asserted or filed a lien, and it 28 later dismissed Defendant’s counterclaims on summary judgment. Plaintiff then 1 filed this lawsuit. 2 Defendant has moved for summary judgment on certain claims, asserting 3 that Plaintiff fails to allege sufficient facts for those claims. The claims at issue are 4 legal malpractice and breach of fiduciary duties claims related to Defendant’s 5 conduct after August 12, 2022, malicious prosecution, abuse of process, elder 6 abuse, and outrage. Plaintiff has agreed to dismiss her claim of malicious 7 prosecution. 8 Motion Standard 9 Summary judgment is appropriate “if the movant shows that there is no 10 genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a 11 matter of law.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a). There is no genuine issue for trial unless 12 there is sufficient evidence favoring the non-moving party for a jury to return a 13 verdict in that party’s favor. Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 250 14 (1986). The moving party has the initial burden of showing the absence of a 15 genuine issue of fact for trial. Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 325 (1986). 16 If the moving party meets its initial burden, the non-moving party must go beyond 17 the pleadings and “set forth specific facts showing that there is a genuine issue for 18 trial.” Anderson, 477 U.S. at 248. 19 In addition to showing there are no questions of material fact, the moving 20 party must also show it is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Smith v. Univ. of 21 Wash. Law Sch., 233 F.3d 1188, 1193 (9th Cir. 2000). The moving party is entitled 22 to judgment as a matter of law when the non-moving party fails to make a 23 sufficient showing on an essential element of a claim on which the non-moving 24 party has the burden of proof. Celotex, 477 U.S. at 323. The non-moving party 25 cannot rely on conclusory allegations alone to create an issue of material fact. 26 Hansen v. United States, 7 F.3d 137, 138 (9th Cir. 1993). 27 When considering a motion for summary judgment, a court may neither 28 weigh the evidence nor assess credibility; instead, “the evidence of the non-movant 1 is to be believed, and all justifiable inferences are to be drawn in his favor.” 2 Anderson, 477 U.S. at 255. 3 Factual Allegations 4 In 2011, Plaintiff’s mother passed away, leaving a trust which left a large 5 house in California to Plaintiff’s brother. Shortly after her mother’s passing, 6 Plaintiff hired Defendant to review her mother’s trust document. Defendant 7 charged a flat fee of $500 for those services and told Plaintiff to call him when her 8 brother passed away so they could discuss her inheritance of the house. In 2022, 9 Plaintiff’s brother passed away, leaving a trust which assigned the residue of the 10 trust in equal shares to Plaintiff and her sister. Plaintiff contacted Defendant about 11 her brother’s passing, and the following day, Defendant arrived at Plaintiff’s home, 12 unannounced, with a contingency fee agreement. 13 The fee agreement stated Defendant typically charges an hourly rate of 14 $350.00. However, it also included language referring to a contingency fee 15 arrangement where Plaintiff would pay Defendant one-third of the gross amount 16 recovered from the trust/estate. The agreement indicated whichever amount was 17 greater between the hourly or contingent fees would be what was owed. 18 Plaintiff asserts she did not understand that the agreement would allow for 19 Defendant to receive a percentage of her inheritance and she trusted Defendant as 20 he had worked for her previously and she assumed he would be fair and honest 21 with her. Plaintiff signed the fee agreement. Soon after, Defendant allegedly began 22 harassing Plaintiff’s family with phone calls and letters, leaving long voicemail 23 messages, asserting the trustee of her brother’s trust was not actually the trustee, 24 demanding production of trust documents, and telling Plaintiff that her family was 25 taking advantage of her. On August 1, 2022, Defendant received the trust 26 document, which entitled Plaintiff to nearly half the estate, including a house worth 27 approximately $2 million. 28 On August 12, 2022, Defendant arrived at Plaintiff’s house unannounced 1 and asked her to sign a document without explaining its contents. The document 2 authorized Defendant to receive all of Plaintiff’s trust distributions to his trust 3 account before distribution to her. 4 On August 15, 2022, Defendant sent a letter to the firm responsible for 5 administration of the trust, requesting Plaintiff’s money be deposited directly into 6 his trust account. On April 17, 2023, Defendant emailed Plaintiff indicating that 7 the house in the trust had been sold, and he would like to talk with her about the 8 distribution. On May 25, 2023, Plaintiff sent a letter to Defendant explicitly 9 requesting documentation of his billable hours. On June 6, 2023, Defendant 10 responded, telling Plaintiff that her family members who were advising her not to 11 pay him a contingency fee were committing “crimes against the elderly” and 12 repeatedly invoked his role as a trusted advisor. He further highlighted the stress 13 she would endure by having to litigate against him. 14 Plaintiff later contacted Defendant and informed him she had not received a 15 disbursement from the trust yet. Defendant responded on June 14, 2023, telling her 16 to trust him and to not worry about the fees. On July 27, 2023, Plaintiff again 17 contacted Defendant to get documentation of his billable hours. Defendant wrote 18 back, telling Plaintiff to “stop worrying about how much you owe me and just send 19 me the documents for my file… Trust me Evy, I am in no rush to force you to 20 Court on this matter right now.” Defendant allegedly threatened to spend “many 21 months and years” burdening her with his claims. 22 Without an independent understanding of the law, Plaintiff asserts she 23 thought Defendant still represented her as an attorney and she did not know how to 24 terminate an attorney-client relationship nor that she had the power to do so. 25 Defendant now asserts the attorney-client relationship was severed verbally by 26 Plaintiff on August 12, 2022, as she decided she no longer needed his services as 27 the trust was not contestable.

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Evalyn Lewis v. Paul Laurence Law PLLC, and Paul Calabro, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/evalyn-lewis-v-paul-laurence-law-pllc-and-paul-calabro-waed-2025.