Restaurateur Claims Legal Malpractice

Restaurateur Claims Legal Malpractice

By Janet Leiser

Senior Editor

There's a lot to worry about in the expansion of a restaurant chain, and Crawford Ker, founder of Largo-based Winghouse, needed help. He hired his brother Cameron Ker as marketing director.

Six months later, Ker dismissed Cameron, but the move cost him $1.2 million instead of the $490,000 he expected to pay.

Now he's accusing his former lawyer, Sandip I. Patel, of professional malpractice for the way he wrote Cameron Ker's employment contract in 2000. In a lawsuit, filed July 21 in Hillsborough Circuit Court, Ker and Winghouse are seeking unspecified damages from Patel.

"It's very tragic when you see a family get into the legal system," says Bryan McGuire, chief financial officer for Ker Inc.

Patel did not return a telephone call for comment.

Winghouse, founded in 1994 by Ker, a former Dallas Cowboys football player, has 16 locations in Florida with annual revenue projected at $40 million in 2005, McGuire says. It plans to open its first Texas location in November in Dallas.

According to the lawsuit, Ker says that because of the language of the agreement "it was not possible to accurately determine what interest in which Winghouse entities Cameron Ker actually owned."

The brothers fought over the agreement in Pinellas courts. Cameron Ker sought $5 million, but he eventually accepted $1.2 million for his interest in Winghouse. Crawford Ker also paid attorneys' fees of $90,000.

In addition to problems with the employment agreement, Ker, through his attorney Robert L. Olsen of Fowler White Boggs Banker PA, alleges Patel, who previously worked as general counsel at Tampa's Wellcare Health Plans, failed to maintain proper corporate documents, including meeting minutes. "The limited documentation and records which did exist were inconsistent and required significant revision," states the complaint.

And "defendant failed to create documentation governing the use and protection of Winghouse intellectual property rights or memorialization of the management agreement between Ker Inc. and the various Winghouse entities," it states.

Ker accuses Patel of legal malpractice and breach of fiduciary duty.