Former WWE superstar turned UFC fighter Phil “CM Punk” Brooks filed a lawsuit against NWA National Champion and current ROH/NWA superstar Scott “Colt Cabana” Colton on June 18th in the Circuit Court of Cook County in Illinois, according to a report from PWInsider.com.

The report notes that the counter-suit, which is seeking $600,000 from Colton, was filed as part of Brooks’ response to Colton’s second, amended lawsuit against him. Colton had filed a lawsuit back in August 2018 against Brooks in the Circuit Court of Cook County in Illinois, alleging unpaid legal feels and a breach of contract from Brooks, stemming from the lawsuit that WWE physician Dr. Chris Amann filed against both of them in the fallout of Brooks’ appearance on Colton’s Art of Wrestling podcast back in November 2014. Colton alleged that Brooks promised him that he would be covered financially during the Amann lawsuit, only to have to later hire his own attorney after he and Brooks had a personal falling out. Colton claimed that he and Brooks had a verbal contract and argued that Brooks should reimburse him for the legal fees he incurred after Brooks’ legal team no longer handled Colton’s side of the lawsuit. Claims in the original lawsuit were dismissed by the court, which allowed Colton to file an amended version. The report notes that the current lawsuit that is before the court filed by Colton would be the third version, filed back on May 21st. In that filing, Colton is seeking a reimbursement of $200,000 in personal legal costs, plus additional damages and repeats much of the same language and allegations from previous lawsuit filings. Colton alleged that he and Brooks had a contract that would have kept him from paying legal fees, but that Brooks’ legal team, The Loeb Firm, dropped him as a client after discovery with the idea that they no longer needed to keep Colton on their side.

The report reveals that in Brooks’ counter-suit, he stated that he spent over $1.2 million on legal bills over the two-year period where The Loeb Firm defended himself and Colton against Dr. Chris Amann’s allegations, a case that went to court with the jury ruling unanimously in Colton and Brooks’ favor. Brooks’ counter-suit alleges that Colton “did not contribute anything towards their attorney’s fees and expenses incurred” in the Amann legal battle and that Colton “refused to contribute monies” towards the case noting, “Colton’s unjust retention of the benefits of receiving a high-quality, professional legal defense through The Loeb Firm paid for solely by Brooks without any reimbursement of Brooks violated fundamental principles of justice, equality, and good conscience”. Brooks noted in his lawsuit that Colton makes money from his Art of Wrestling series through advertisements and sponsors, YouTube impressions and through the sale of merchandise that Colton promotes on the podcast and that within 5 days of the November 2014 episode, that episode was streamed or downloaded 1.5 million times, the largest audience ever for that podcast series and that within a week, that number was up to three million. Brooks also alleges that when Colton received a letter from legal representatives of Dr. Chris Amann requesting that the episode be removed, Brooks believed, “upon information and belief, Colton had a commercial and financial incentive to leave Episode 226 available for public consumption and not comply wit the Demand Letter”. Colton has stated in previous lawsuit filings that he would have removed the podcast and attempted to settle with Amann had it not been for Brooks stating that Colton would be taken care of legally.

The report further states that the idea that Colton and Brooks had a legal, binding contract based on a text message has been a major bone of contention in the legal wrangling and thus far, the presiding Judge has not agreed with Colton that the agreement would be binding under Illinois law, while the court has left it open that The Loeb Firm’s agreement to continue to represent Colton after he and Brooks had an as-of-yet unexplained personal falling out may fall under Illinois law, but that the court has not made a firm ruling in either direction and that every time a new amended lawsuit is filed, it results in the clock pretty much being reset on the case.

The report adds that while additional updates will be released in the days ahead, Brooks’ lawsuit claims that Colton and Brooks jointly hired The Loeb Firm to defend them and that their agreement to retain The Loeb Firm’s services included the understanding that Brooks would be billed, but 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” and that the agreement with The Loeb Firm also according to the filing, stated that either Colton or Brooks could independently end their agreement with The Loeb Firm at any time. It also stated, in Paragraph 14 of their agreement with The Loeb Firm, “For example, although we are not aware of any conflict that presently exists between the two of you, the potential for such a conflict exists. If an actual conflict were to arise in the future, we may not be able to represent Scott Colton in the Amann Lawsuit.” Loeb later dropped Colton from their representation, stating there was an ethical issue that prevented them from continuing to represent Colton. Brooks alleges that by June 2017, he had paid $1,210,000 in legal fees and that by June 2019, Colton had not reimbursed him for Colton’s share of the lawsuit costs. Brooks also alleges that Colton breached his contract with Brooks by not reimbursing him, noting that he “conferred a benefit” on Colton by funding their legal defense against Dr. Chris Amann. Brooks noted in the lawsuit that he has paid $1,210,000 while Colton has paid zero. Brooks is seeking $600,000 “for general damages” as well as interest on such damages “as allowed by law”; costs of suit incurred and additional further relief that the court deems just and proper.

Colton’s side must respond by July 3rd to the Brooks lawsuit.