Attorneys of The Vethan Law Firm, P.C. won a $2.8 million jury verdict, Wednesday, November 17, 2010, representing the plaintiff in Civil Action No. 4:09-cv-02644; David Homoki dba Global Check Services v. Conversion Services, Inc.; in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas; Houston Division. Attorneys Charles Vethan and Elyse Farrow were ably assisted at trial by newly-licensed attorney, Collin Wynne and paralegal Eneyda Sauceda, with research and briefing assistance from Lee Keller King. The trial was presided over by the Hon. David Hittner, United States District Judge and tried to an eight-person jury.
The federal jury awarded Plaintiff, David Homoki d/b/a Global Check Services $2.1 million against Defendant, Conversion Services, Inc. of Houston, and $700,000 against Defendant, Electronic Payment Systems of Englewood, Colorado. The verdict was based on Global Check’s claims that Conversion Services breached its contract with Global Check, and violated its fiduciary duty to Global Check as its agent/broker. Additionally, the jury found that Electronic Payment Systems conspired with Conversion Systems to violate Conversion Services’ fiduciary duty to Global Check. Attorneys fees are still to be determined by the Court. The jury found against Conversion Services on its counterclaim against Global Check for payment of unpaid residuals.
Mr. Homoki, a resident of California, had contracted with Conversion Services to market Global Check’s services to merchants. Global Check is in the business of processing and guaranteeing payment of customer checks, including checks post dated up to 90 days. Conversion Services was also responsible for servicing the merchant accounts, after they were signed up with Global Check.
The relationship ended in 2009 after Global Check became aware that Conversion Services was misrepresenting its products and not servicing its clients. Global Check subsequently learned that Conversion Services was, unbeknownst to Global Check, selling a similar product from Electronic Payment Systems and switching Global Check’s merchants to Electronic Payment Systems, after receiving a finder’s fee from Global Check to sign up the merchant.
