Even though the amount in dispute was well below the typical size of case Luke handles and despite his large workload, he agreed to help out his friend’s brother if he could. The case was not a simple or easy one. The brother’s partner had signed a contract purporting to bind their metal fabricating business to pay a factoring company (lender) for money it lent to one of their subcontractors on a large welding / fabrication job. When the subcontractor failed to perform, the friend’s brother’s company had to source out the work to another company. That’s when the factoring company came after the brother and his partner. Signed contracts are extremely difficult to defeat. The amount of money in dispute would likely have bankrupted the brother and his partner.

First, Luke was successful in getting the case transferred out of a disadvantageous forum and into the court for the parish where the brother’s company was located. Then Luke tried the case before the judge in December 2023. Luke argued that the contract was void because it attempted to alter the main contract between the brother’s company and the subcontractor and that the partner did not consent in the agreement at issue to pay the factoring company regardless whether the subcontractor performed or not.

The court issued a ruling in April 2024 fully dismissing all claims asserted by the factoring company against the brother’s company and threw the case out. The matter is still subject to a potential appeal at this time.