David Lee Pettus Houston-area Personal injury Attorney Disbarred
Texas Supreme Court revokes law license for Houston-area personal injury attorney exposed by KPRC 2
David Lee Pettus is now prohibited from practicing law in Texas
HOUSTON – The Supreme Court of Texas has accepted the resignation of Houston-area personal injury attorney David Lee Pettus after concluding it would be “in the best interest of the public and the profession,” according to an order obtained by KPRC 2 on Thursday.
His law license has been canceled and he’s now barred from practicing law in Texas, performing legal services, giving legal advice to others, or accepting any fee directly or indirectly for legal services, according to the Supreme Court’s order.
Reached by KPRC 2 on Thursday, one of his former clients simply said: “Yay.”
Records obtained by KPRC 2 show the State Bar of Texas had at least 24 active investigations of professional misconduct involving Pettus when the State Bar recommended in a court filing his resignation be accepted.
Among the 24 allegations of professional misconduct, the records show Pettus allegedly settled his clients’ cases for a total of more than $1 million, which they claim to have never seen. When clients would try to reach him, they said they’d eventually receive no answer.
Several of the clients listed in the documents who had active Bar cases have shared their frustrations with KPRC 2, which has been exposing allegations of theft and fraud involving the longtime attorney since January.
Pettus told KPRC 2 in July he was resigning his law license in lieu of discipline.
To explain his decision, he provided the following statement to KPRC 2: “Unfortunately, a number of my former clients who were upset at the amounts of the settlements they got apparently banded together to report to the Bar that somehow they were deceived, NOTHING COULD BE FURTHER FROM THE TRUTH!! The truth is I represented the regular person-not big shots in big cases. I just don’t have the hundreds of thousands of dollars that it will take to fight the Bar,” Pettus wrote in part in an email on July 25.
According to the Bar, it’s technically not a disbarment since Pettus did it voluntarily, but for all intents and purposes, it’s a voluntary disbarment.
The former clients who lost settlement money and filed complaints with the Bar hired Pettus as far back as 2019 and as recently as Nov. 2023, according to the records.
Some former clients expressed frustration with the State Bar’s process, explaining that they filed their grievance against Pettus nearly three years ago.
“All we’ve ever encountered was delay after delay as Pettus kept finding a way to game the system,” Derek Liang said. “In the end, it was Pettus who ended up surrendering his law license and not the Bar forcing him to. If he hadn’t, this whole ordeal could have been prolonged for who knows how much longer. Him leaving on his terms leaves a bitter taste in all of our mouths.”
The State Bar does not have a way to force Pettus to pay back the stolen money, but a spokesperson told KPRC 2 the former clients will soon be getting information about how to apply with the Client Security Fund, which is intended for victims of attorney theft.
Each client has to be eligible under the rules and could qualify for up to $40,000, which is lower than the amounts some of them are now owed.
The process takes a total of 12-18 months, according to the spokesperson.
KPRC 2 shared the documents regarding the voluntary disbarment with the Harris County District Attorney’s Office on Thursday afternoon, but so far prosecutors have not confirmed nor denied the existence of any criminal investigation involving Pettus.
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