LeBlanc v. Lange

365 S.W.3d 70, 2011 Tex. App. LEXIS 7655, 2011 WL 4398537
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedSeptember 22, 2011
DocketNo. 01-08-01029-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by29 cases

This text of 365 S.W.3d 70 (LeBlanc v. Lange) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
LeBlanc v. Lange, 365 S.W.3d 70, 2011 Tex. App. LEXIS 7655, 2011 WL 4398537 (Tex. Ct. App. 2011).

Opinion

OPINION

EVELYN V. KEYES, Justice.

Appellants David LeBlanc, Hedy Le-Blanc, LeBlanc Family Investments Limited Liability Company, Shreveport GP, LLC, Shreveport Doctors Hospital 2004, Ltd., and Shreveport Hospital Management, Inc. (collectively, “LeBlanc”) challenge the trial court’s rendition of summary judgment in favor of appellees B. John Lange, III (“Lange”) and Ethicus Healthcare Group, LLC (“Ethicus”) in Le-Blanc’s suit against Lange and Ethicus for declaratory judgment, breach of fiduciary duty, legal malpractice, deceptive trade practices, negligent misrepresentation and conspiracy.1 In five issues, LeBlanc contends that the trial court erred in concluding as a matter of law that: (1) there was no attorney-client relationship between Le-Blanc and Lange; (2) there was no “special relationship” between LeBlanc and Lange that gave rise to a fiduciary duty; (8) the settlement agreement at issue here was fair; (4) Lange did not breach a formal or informal fiduciary duty to LeBlanc; and (5) Lange was entitled to summary judgment on the issues of illegality, duress, and unconscionability.

We affirm.

Background

This suit arises out of a personal and business association that went bad. Lange, an attorney, went into business with LeBlanc, a businessman and longtime friend, and they formed several corporate entities together. When the interests of LeBlanc diverged from those of Lange, the two fell out and this lawsuit ensued.

A. The Relationship Between Le-Blanc and Lange

1. Relationship Between LeBlanc and Lange Begins

In 1987, Lange, who was a partner in the corporate section of Andrews Kurth, came to be acquainted with LeBlanc, who was employed with a healthcare company that was a client of Lange’s. Lange and LeBlanc’s professional association developed into a social friendship, and the two men went hunting together, golfed together, and on some occasions attended the same family events. According to Lange, the two men “engaged in business and social matters together at all times during [their] 18 year relationship.”

2. LeBlanc Founds LifeCare and LifeCare Retains Lange

LeBlanc co-founded LifeCare Hospital (“LifeCare”) in 1992. Over the next 13 [74]*74years, LifeCare grew from a small hospital into a company that managed other long-term acute care hospitals in twenty-two locations. During that time, LifeCare retained Lange to represent it in various corporate transactions. LeBlanc stayed with LifeCare until 2003, when he was terminated as CEO. LeBlanc contends that Lange was his personal lawyer while he was CEO of LifeCare; Lange denies it.

When LeBlanc was terminated as CEO of LifeCare in 2003, he sought Lange’s aid in obtaining a lawyer for a number of disputes he had with LifeCare. Lange told LeBlanc that he could not represent him in his disputes with LifeCare, but instead introduced him to the Houston law firm of Franklin, Cardwell & Jones, P.C. (“FCJ”). LeBlanc retained FCJ in March 2003 to represent him in his suits against LifeCare in Texas, and he retained the New Orleans firm of Blue Williams, LLP to represent him in his suits against Life-Care in Louisiana. Those firms continuously represented LeBlanc in all LifeCare matters until August 2005, when LifeCare was sold. LeBlanc’s lead attorney at FCJ was Greg Jones.

3. LeBlanc Forms the Hospital Partnership and the Management Company to Acquire and Manage the Hospital; Lange Represents LeBlanc for the Acquisition

By 2003, when LeBlanc was terminated from LifeCare, Lange had joined the firm of Jackson Walker, L.L.P. Lange had an extensive background in serving health care clients in buying and selling hospitals, surgery centers, and other health care facilities and in forming companies to develop projects. LeBlanc engaged Lange and Jackson Walker to help him acquire a healthcare facility he could manage. With the aid of Lange and Jackson Walker, LeBlanc formed a Texas limited partnership called Shreveport Doctors Hospital 2003, Ltd. (the “Hospital Partnership”). Lange also created Shreveport Hospital Management, Inc. (the “Management Company”), which initially served as the general partner and manager of the Hospital Partnership. Lange was the president and sole manager of the Management Company. The Hospital Partnership acquired Doctors Hospital (the “Hospital”) in Shreveport, Louisiana in April 2004. Life-Care was the sole tenant of the Hospital pursuant to a 2004 lease that would be effective until June 2006. Lange and Jackson Walker charged LeBlanc more than $400,000 in attorney’s fees for these services.

k. Lange Becomes a Full-Time Business Associate of LeBlanc

In June 2004, after the acquisition of the Hospital in April, Lange left Jackson Walker to join LeBlanc as an equal manager of the Hospital. Lange, through his family trust, Perry Mound Trust (“PMT”), and LeBlanc became minority limited partners in the Hospital Partnership. Lange and LeBlanc, through their family entities, including the LeBlanc Family Investment Limited Liability Company, were also the only shareholders, officers, and directors of the Management Company.

Lange testified by deposition that when he left his law practice at Jackson Walker in June 2004 to become LeBlane’s full-time business associate in running the Hospital he told LeBlanc that he was no longer his lawyer. LeBlanc’s testimony similarly confirms that he understood Lange to be “looking for an opportunity to get out of the lawyering business” and, instead, to handle the legal side of the business while LeBlanc handled the operational side. However, LeBlanc asserts that Lange [75]*75gave him no formal notice that he would no longer represent him personally.

5. LeBlanc and Lange Pursue Long Term Acute Care Business and Form Ethicus

After the purchase of the Hospital, Le-Blanc and Lange set out to engage in the long term acute care (“LTAC”) business. They planned to create Ethicus and intended it to be an LTAC management company much like LifeCare. The plan was for Ethicus to open its first LTAC center in the Hospital after LifeCare’s 2004 lease expired.

LeBlanc and Lange needed investors in Ethicus. LeBlanc still owned stock in LifeCare, the business he had helped develop. This stock, which was valuable but illiquid, would become very valuable when LifeCare was sold. Accordingly, in order to attract investors, LeBlanc agreed to secure or pay back any investments made in the Ethicus healthcare venture with the future sale proceeds of his LifeCare stock. Under these terms, John Styles and Ronald Colichia agreed to invest in the venture. As security for this guarantee, LeBlanc signed a “Collateral Pledge Agreement” pledging his LifeCare stock to Styles and Colichia. Ultimately, Lange drew up the papers and directed the creation of Ethicus. Ethicus consisted of four members: LeBlanc, Lange, Styles, and Colichia.

Lange’s first task after he joined the management of the Hospital in June 2004 was to negotiate an extension of the Hospital’s lease with LifeCare, its sole tenant, whose lease was about to expire. LeBlanc was excluded from these negotiations due to his substantial ownership interest in LifeCare, which created a potential conflict of interest with the Hospital.

In December 2004, on the advice of tax accountants, the Management Company was replaced by a new Texas limited liability company, Shreveport GP, LLC (“SGP”).

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Bluebook (online)
365 S.W.3d 70, 2011 Tex. App. LEXIS 7655, 2011 WL 4398537, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/leblanc-v-lange-texapp-2011.