Houston, Texas, May 26, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — As scrutiny intensifies over forced arbitration<\/a> and attorney accountability in Texas, two additional families have now come forward alleging that Houston probate lawyers Nicholas Abaza, Jorge Borunda, and Michael Trevino abused their positions of trust to extract excessive fees and control legal outcomes at the expense of vulnerable clients. Stop Legal Bullying Now, LLC<\/a> is issuing this latest consumer alert as part of its ongoing multi-part investigative series shining a spotlight on legal abuse<\/a> targeting grieving families in Texas inheritance battles. <\/p>\n The newly surfaced allegations mirror claims raised by Caroline and Richard Allison, who are currently pursuing post-judgment relief in their probate case through a\u00a0Bill of Review<\/a> filing. The Allisons have called for a complete overhaul of the arbitration process and have become central to a widening Houston probate investigation<\/a> documented by investigative journalist Wayne Dolcefino.\u00a0<\/p>\n Together, the families say their experiences point to a troubling pattern in which predatory lawyers, unfair contingency arrangements, and mandatory arbitration clauses combine to deprive clients of meaningful oversight and recourse \u2014 a practice advocates are calling fee harvesting. <\/p>\n The Damn Lawyers Series: New Victims Speak Out<\/b>\u00a0 Gail Echols, a Texas woman seeking to recover her inheritance following the death of her father, says she hired Abaza, Borunda, and Trevino with the assumption that they would protect her interests in a probate dispute involving a family-owned tugboat business. According to Echols, the attorneys later told her they had negotiated a settlement worth approximately $1 million \u2014 but that after fees were taken, she received just over $300,000.\u00a0<\/p>\n Echols says the lawyers charged a 40% contingency fee and took their entire fee from the cash portion of the settlement, leaving her with far less than she expected. She captured this in her own words in a\u00a0Dolcefino investigation testimonial<\/a>. \u00a0<\/p>\n Echols later retained legal malpractice counsel who, according to her, sent a demand letter alleging negligence, breach of contract, and breach of fiduciary duty, and sought the return of more than $100,000 in fees. Court records in Echols v. Abaza<\/a> reflect the ongoing dispute. Echols says no money was returned.<\/p>\n Another alleged victim, Valeriya Ruzynska, says she hired Jorge Borunda and Nick Abaza after her ex-husband died leaving behind an estate valued at approximately $3.5 million, to enforce the divorce decree. Ruzynska says she felt pressured into settlement positions she did not agree with and was discouraged from questioning the legal strategy.\u00a0<\/p>\n According to Ruzynska, that representation ended after she learned about other allegations involving the attorneys and identifying what she describes as a pattern of pressure, delay, and fee-driven decision-making.\u00a0<\/p>\n “The probate plot we’ve exposed is just one of the reasons why we need some lawyer reform,” said Wayne Dolcefino of Dolcefino Media. “Destroying someone’s inheritance is wrong.”<\/p>\n Rigged Arbitration: The Accountability Gap<\/b>\u00a0 Caroline Allison has become an outspoken advocate for arbitration reform following her family’s experience.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI know this trap personally. My family entered arbitration trusting that the process was neutral,\u201d said Allison. \u201cBut we later discovered that the proceedings had been corrupted by undisclosed conflicts of interest involving our own attorneys and the arbitrator, Anne Ashby. When we tried to fight back for our justice, we realized that our options for recourse are nearly non-existent. The cycle just never ends.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Dolcefino investigative series, Damn Lawyers<\/a>, has documented the widening allegations across multiple episodes. Two new alleged victims are coming forward with their experiences working with this trio of lawyers. The newest episode, Damn Lawyers: Probate Plot<\/i><\/a>, <\/i>details their claims. \u00a0<\/p>\n
The emergence of multiple Texas families with similar allegations has intensified concerns about how mandatory arbitration clauses<\/a> and contingency fee arrangements can be used to shield attorney conduct from public scrutiny. As documented in Damn Lawyers: Rigged Arbitration \u2014 The Stench of Cronyism<\/i><\/a>, <\/i>alleged undisclosed conflicts between attorneys and arbitrators lie at the heart of the Allison family’s claims.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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