CAUSE NO.

DC-16-03561
KALLE MCWHORTER and
PRESTIGIOUS PETS, LLC,

PLAINTIFFS,

v.
ROBERT DUCHOUQUETTE and
MICHELLE DUCHOUQUETTE
DEFENDANTS.

IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF

DALLAS COUNTY, TEXAS

l 60th JUDICIAL DISTRICT

REPLY AFFIDAVIT OF PAUL ALAN LEVY

IN SUPPORT OF MOTION FOR AW ARD OF ATTORNEY FEES
1. My name is Paul Alan Levy. I have been principal counsel for the Duchouquettes since
the outset of the litigation in this Court.
2. I have read Kalle Mc Whorter' s affidavit, including an assertion about supposed settlement
discussions. Since I entered this case, as counsel, Prestigious Pets and Kalle Mc Whorter have been
represented by counsel. Consequently, I have not communicated with them since entering the case.
But I have communicated with plaintiffs' counsel on several occasions, attempting to persuade him
to engage in discussions about possible resolutions of this case short of litigation, either resolving
the case in its entirety or at least narrowing the issues presented for decision by the Court. However,
to the best of my knowledge, Kalle Mc Whorter was never a party to those communications.
3. My efforts to reach out to plaintiffs' counsel included sending him a detailed letter before
we filed our motion under the Texas Citizens Participation Act, laying out many of the problems I
perceived with his clients' claims. advising him that pursuing the litigation could be very costly for
his clients, and offering to allow plaintiffs to dismiss their lawsuit in this Court without any payment

of fees for the time we had already spent on the case. A copy of that letter is attached as Exhibit 1G.
(The lettering is sequential to my first affidavit in support of an award of attorney fees and
sanctions.) When I discussed the matter with Mr. Richmond after he had seen the letter, he did not
tell me either that the plaintiffs wanted to settle the case, or what terms the plaintiffs would require
or accept to withdraw the litigation.
4. In filing the motion for an award of attorney fees and sanctions, I was aware of the
possibility that the amount sought to be awarded might exceed plaintiffs' ability to pay (although I
have no information about their actual financial situation). For that reason, I contacted Mr.
Richmond to let him know what the amounts we would be seeking, urging him to make a counterproposal. He never got back to me.
5. Had he responded with a showing of his client's finances , that is certainly a matter that
we would have taken into consideration in deciding about a possible settlement of the fees claim.
I have told him that privately. See also Exhibit 1H (blog post dated September 27, 2016).

..

'

...
;i

__

-2-

... -