ST. LOUIS — An attorney licensed in Missouri is facing a legal malpractice lawsuit filed in St. Louis Circuit Court, accused of negligence that allegedly cost his former client more than $550,000 in damages and legal fees.
In a petition filed April 28, J & M Securities LLC alleges that Matthew J. Floyd, who represented the company in a debt collection case in 2017, failed to file within the appropriate statute of limitations and neglected to assert critical defenses.
According to the complaint, these oversights have resulted in years of costly litigation and potential exposure to substantial damages under federal and state consumer protection laws.
J & M Securities is a Missouri limited liability company based in St. Louis. The company retained Floyd, a licensed attorney, to pursue a collection action against two tenants, Hani Aziz and Sanaa Kahalah-Aziz, regarding unpaid fees related to an apartment at 11478 Aleppo Drive.
Floyd filed the collection suit on or around Jan. 15, 2017, in St. Louis County.
The defendants in that case countered with amended claims alleging that the suit was barred by the statute of limitations and that J & M had violated the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and Missouri Merchandising Practices Act.
Despite these claims being filed in mid-2018, J & M now alleges that Floyd failed to raise an affirmative defense based on the statute of limitations in response.
On March 11, 2020, the St. Louis Circuit Court granted summary judgment in favor of Aziz and Kahalah-Aziz, ruling that J & M’s lawsuit was time-barred.
The Missouri Court of Appeals for the Eastern District upheld the decision on May 4, 2021, confirming that the collection claims were outside the five-year statute of limitations.
J & M contends that Floyd’s failure to file within the statutory deadline and his subsequent failure to assert proper defenses directly led to the adverse rulings. The company further claims that the amended counterclaims related to the FDCPA and MMPA violations remain pending in court.
Counsel for Aziz and Kahalah-Aziz has reportedly demanded $350,000 in attorneys’ fees, while J & M says it has already incurred more than $200,000 in legal costs defending the ongoing litigation and expects those costs to rise.
The complaint also accuses Floyd of refusing to assist in J & M’s current legal defense, particularly in asserting a "bona fide error" defense to the FDCPA claims. According to the suit, the company made multiple requests for his help—by phone, in writing, and in person—but Floyd allegedly failed to respond or cooperate.
J & M outlines several specific acts of negligence, including Floyd’s failure to correctly calculate the statute of limitations, filing the collection action after the deadline, failing to advise the company of potential legal exposure under the FDCPA and MMPA, and failing to object to the counterclaims on statutory grounds.
The petition states that, had Floyd not committed these errors, the company would have avoided the current legal exposure and ongoing litigation.
The company filed the lawsuit to preserve its right to recover damages within the statute of limitations for malpractice, while noting that it continues to defend against the underlying counterclaims. It seeks a judgment in excess of $25,000, in addition to legal costs and any other relief the court deems appropriate.
J & M Securities is represented by William K. Meehan of the Meehan Law Firm.
St. Louis Circuit Court case number: 25SL-CC04556