ST. LOUIS — The Crone Law Firm and several other defendants have filed a notice of removal seeking to transfer a legal malpractice lawsuit brought by a former client to federal court from state court.
The firm, Alan Crone, William Patrick Crone and Alex Gass filed the notice in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri to remove the case filed by Lamar Tolden, who filed the initial case in St. Louis Circuit Court.
The filing, submitted Sept. 5, cites diversity jurisdiction and an amount in controversy exceeding $75,000 as the basis for removal.
The malpractice suit was initially filed on Aug. 7.
It alleges the defendants of deviating from the standard of care in representing Tolden in two earlier federal cases, on in 2023 and one in 2025.
Tolden’s petition alleges malpractice, including failure to respond to discovery requests and failure to oppose a motion to dismiss.
The defendants argue that the petition fails to specify what each individual defendant did or did not do, instead referring collectively to all four attorneys as “Crone.”
The Notice of Removal pays particular attention to the claims against defendant Alex Gass, which appear in only four paragraphs of the petition.
Tolden alleges Gass was assigned to the case in November 2024, reviewed the file, asked questions of Alan Crone, received emails and prepared a motion for a status conference.
The defendants contend that none of these alleged actions constitutes negligence.
A declaration from Alan Crone states Gass billed just 6.25 hours in total for the representation, with 2.25 hours specifically during the period identified in the petition, consisting of work on the joint motion for a status conference and motion to continue.
The defendants argue this demonstrates Gass’s limited role and supports their contention that he was fraudulently joined to defeat diversity jurisdiction.
The filing asserts that diversity jurisdiction exists because Tolden is a citizen of Missouri while the Crone defendants are citizens of Tennessee.
The defendants further argue that under Tennessee law, which governs the attorney-client agreement, a plaintiff must show duty, breach, damages, causation and proximate cause to succeed on a legal malpractice claim.
They argue that Tolden has not pled facts connecting Gass to any alleged malpractice or damages, noting that the first case was dismissed for failure to prosecute and to advance discovery, none of which is alleged to involve Gass.
The defendants are represented by attorney Ryan N. Clark of Lewis Thomason, P.C., in Nashville.
Tolden is represented by Kevin J. Dolley of HKM Employment Attorneys LLP in St. Louis.
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, Eastern Division case number: 4:25-cv-01333
