KNR Bus

KNR has filed a counterclaim lawsuit against a former employee over emails at the center of a lawsuit accusing the firm of engaging in illegal kickbacks with chiropractor firms and lending agencies and charging clients for investigative work that never occurred. KNR has denied the claims.

(Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court)

AKRON, Ohio -- The personal-injury law-firm Kisling, Nestico and Redick, which is being sued over allegations that it engaged in illegal kickback schemes, has slapped a counterclaim against the former employee who gave copies of emails to lawyers who ultimately used them to bolster their lawsuit.

KNR argued in a brief filed this week that Robert Horton violated terms of his confidentiality agreement and shared propriety trade information about the firm's inner-workings when he shared the emails with attorneys Peter Pattakos and Subodh Chandra.

The firm wants Summit County Judge Alison Breaux to order Horton to return a hard drive that contains the messages and other documents from his time as an attorney at the Fairlawn-based firm that has offices across Ohio. The firm is also seeking at least $25,000 in compensatory and punitive damages from Horton.

Horton's lawyer has yet to respond to the lawsuit. Chandra and Pattakos, the lawyers who filed the kickback lawsuit on behalf of three former KNR clients last year, have decried the move in court filings.

"This new lawsuit against Mr. Horton is frivolous and a galling demonstration of KNR's willingness to use its apparently unlimited funds to abuse the legal system and intimidate into silence anyone and everyone who has information about their fraudulent conduct," Pattakos wrote.

Breaux is also presiding over the kickback lawsuit, which says the firm frequently referred clients to chiropractor firms who, in return, referred their patients to them for legal representation and rewarded executives of firms who referred the most clients with luxury vacations.

KNR has denied the allegations.

What the emails show

Copies of the emails contained in court records show KNR lawyers frequently discussing which chiropractors the firm preferred to work with and instructing attorneys to stop sending clients to certain chiropractors.

In a May 2012 email, a KNR office manager wrote to all of the firm's attorneys to remind them to track which chiropractors they referred clients to because a chiropractor called her "to review the number of cases she sent to us and we sent to her," a copy of the email attached to the complaint.

"I just noticed that we've sent 2 cases to A Plus Accident & Injury Center when these cases could've gone to Shaker, who sends us way more cases," the same manager wrote in an October 2012 email contained in the lawsuit.

"A Plus Injury" also came up again in August 2013.

"Please do not send anymore clients there this month," the same manager wrote in the email contained in the . "We are 6 to 1 on referrals."

Horton left the firm in 2015 and, according to attorneys, took copies of his hard-drive that contained all of the emails and other documents. Horton then shared the emails with Pattakos, whom Horton went to high school with, court records say. It's unclear when that happened.

The emails are at the center of a dispute that ended with Breaux imposing a sweeping gag order in the kickback lawsuit that bars attorneys from speaking publicly or to the media about the case. The order also restricted public access to electronic court filings.

KNR's lawyers requested both orders after Pattakos and Chandra attached them to a request to file a new complaint after Breaux dropped KNR co-founder Roberto Nestico from the lawsuit. The emails, they said, showed that Nestico was involved in the schemes.

Breaux contended that she had not yet ruled whether the emails should be protected, and accused Pattakos and Chandra of trying to enter them onto the record before she made her decision.

What the lawyers say

Lawyers for KNR contend the emails are protected by a confidentiality agreement that Horton signed as part of his employment. They also argue that the information about fees and the firm's inner-workings are trade-secrets that should be kept under wraps, because competitors could see how much they charge and underbid them.

Horton also could have documents that contain medical information and settlement agreements that KNR contends were confidential and involve clients that are not part of the other lawsuit.

But Pattakos and Chandra say previous court rulings have held that companies cannot use trade-secret provisions to hide evidence of fraud, and that the documents "conclusively show" that Horton thought he was exposing fraud when he shared the emails.

They also contend hat they "have every reason to believe that KNR will destroy this evidence if the Court orders Horton to turn it over."

Breaux wrote in an April order that she is inclined to order Horton to turn the information over to her, but allowed lawyers on both sides until later this month to file more briefs before she makes her decision.

To comment on this story, please visit Friday's crime and courts comments section.

cleveland.com is a partner of the Greater Cleveland Food Bank. Every dollar buys four meals for the hungry. Click here to donate.