CM Punk Files Counter-Suit Against Colt Cabana Over Legal Fees

Colt Cabana’s lawsuit against CM Punk over legal fees incurred in the lawsuit by Dr. Chris Amann now has an accompanying counter-suit. PWInsider reports that Punk filed a counter-lawsuit against Cabana on June 18th in Circuit Court of Cook County in Illinois.

According to the site, Punk filed the suit as part of his response to Cabana’s amended lawsuit against him. Cabana filed the latest version of the suit in December, alleging that Punk owes unpaid legal fees and breached his contract with Cabana in a promise to cover him over the fees, which stem from Amann suing the two for defamation over Brooks’ infamous appearance in November of 2014 on Cabana’s podcast. Cabana claimed that Punk promised Cabana would be covered financially in the suit, but reneged after the two fell out and Cabana had to hire his own lawyer. His argument is that Punk’s promise constituted a verbal contract and that Punk should reimburse Cabana for his legal fees.

Punk is seeking $600,000 in his counter-suit, saying that he spent over $1.2 million in legal fees over the period where he and Cabana were jointly defended in Amann’s lawsuit. He claims that Cabana refused to contribute anything toward expenses in the lawsuit and argues that the refusal to do so “violated fundamental principles of justice, equality, and good conscience.” He notes that Cabana makes money from his podcast through ads, sponsors, YouTube views, and merchandise sales, and that Punk’s appearance made the episode Cabana’s most financially-successful episode to date. He argues that he and Cabana jointly hired their law firm with the understanding that Punk would be billed, but that the agreement was “silent with respect to how Brooks and Colton could, would or should allocate the Loeb Firm’s fees and expenses among themselves or whether how and when Colton should reimburse Brooks.” Punk alleges that Cabana breanched his contract with Punk by not reimbursing him.

Cabana’s initial lawsuit was dismissed, but he was allowed to file a new suit which, in turn, had a count of fraud dismissed in April. Cabana’s breach of contract claims were allowed to move forward. Cabana is seeking $1 million in damages and $200,000 in punitive rewards.