On Appeal from the 191st Judicial District Court Dallas County
The appellant was employed as an attorney by the Law Offices of the appellee.  Appellant sought unpaid wages for work performed as an independent contractor. The appellant sued the appellee, the Law Offices, and the firm's clients, for conversion of those funds. The appellees filed a motion to dismiss the appellant's claim. In its findings and conclusions, the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) noted that the appellee invoiced two clients shortly after the appellant filed the wage claim and the wage claim should be amended to include those wages. The TWC ordered the appellee to pay the appellant $6,902.17 based on his work for the clients. The appellant challenged the TWC's decision to the trial court for judicial review of the TWC decision. The court entered final judgment, granting the appellees' motion to dismiss and finding that the appellant was precluded from obtaining any requested relief or past wages from the appellees. The appellant filed a motion for reconsideration and a new trial, and appellees filed a motion to strike the motion for new trial. The appellant filed a notice of appeal. The court granted the motion to strike the appellant's motion for new trial. On appeal, the appellant argued that the trial court erred by dismissing his claim against the appellees. The appellate court found that the trial court did not err by determining the appellant was precluded by res judicata from recovering any past wages for work he performed during the time period encompassed by the TWC wage claim. However, any client payments relating to work performed by the appellant after the time period considered by the TWC in the wage claim was not adjudicated by the TWC and was not barred by res judicata. Further, the appellant did not file a wage claim after the time period considered by the TWC, thus the election of the remedies did not bar the appellant's claims for past wages after that time period. Finally, the court concluded that the appellees did not conclusively establish they did not receive or send payment during that interim time period for work performed by the appellant. Accordingly, the court reversed the trial court's judgment dismissing the appellant's conversion claim for any fees paid or received by the appellees after the time period considered by the TWC, and remanded that claim to the trial court for further proceedings.