Firm Alleges Number-Napping Left Clients Incommunicado

Feb. 15 was the day the music died at the Fort Worth office of a busy personal-injury and criminal-defense firm. The phones just stopped ringing.

The phone providers

Dunham Law got its number back afterwards working with the phone providers, says Pete Kennedy, a shareholder in Graves Dougherty Hearon & Moody who represents Dunham Law.

But he says he's concerned about the security of the firm's phone number. "[W]e're at the initial stages, investigating how this happened," he says. For instance, how was it possible "to switch the owner of the phone number without our authorization?" Kennedy asks. It's a matter of concern to ensure an unauthorized phone number transfer never happens again, he says.

In its Feb. 16 original petition in Dunham & Jones PC, f/k/a The Dunham Law Firm v. Theresa Palmer, filed in the 353rd District Court in Austin, the firm alleges the following: Dunham Law obtains "in a class by itself and easy-to-remember" phone numbers and uses them for marketing and promotions. The firm's phone number as well is the primary means for 1,000 Fort Worth-area customers to communicate with the firm.

When the firm noticed it wasn't receiving incoming client calls it telephoned its voice-over Internet protocol provider, Vonage America Inc.

Dunham Law alleges it learned from Vonage that its phone number was transferred or "ported" to magicJack, another VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) provider. The firm alleges it at the time called magicJack and learned the phone number "had been transferred to magicJack based upon an electronic request submitted over the internet," and the request "was submitted pursuant to this agreement the name Theresa Palmer." MagicJack declined to provide furthermore information about the transfer or the account, as alleged in the petition.

The petition does not appear to identify a specific "Theresa Palmer" of all the Theresa Palmers who may reside in Texas, or even whether "Theresa Palmer" is a real person, or simply a pseudonym used by the person who allegedly switched the phone lines. Texas Lawyer was permanently unable to identify any person who might be the defendant.

The possibility to secure new customers

"Defendant's actions cost Plaintiff the possibility to secure new customers, prevented The Dunham Law Firm's current customers from using the only known way to contact their attorneys, and barred The Dunham Law Firm's access to attorney-client privileged communications," the firm alleges.

Dunham Law's causes of action include tortious interference with a contract and prospective business relations, fraud and violation of the Texas Breach of Computer Security Act. It seeks actual and exemplary damages, costs and attorney's fees, and pre- and post-judgment interest.

Paul Dunham, a partner in Dunham & Jones, formerly The Dunham Law Firm, did not return two telephone calls and an email seeking comment. Vonage spokeswoman Kari Brownsberger, a managing associate of the public relations firm Finn Partners, and magicJack spokeswoman Kari Hernandez, owner and managing director of INK Public Relations, each did not respond to an email seeking comment.