In August of 2013, after a lot of effort, Craig Taylor and his business Atlas Commodities executed a settlement agreement with Adam Sinn and Eric Torres. Craig Taylor remembers the following about dealing with this duo:
"The reason that there was also confusion is because of the number of lies that Eric Torres and Adam Sinn told throughout the -- this entire thing from start to finish. It's hard to remember where we discovered the truth, when we discovered the truth, and if we did."
"We were defrauded by them. We suffered great damage by their -- by their lie and their deception."
Understandably, Craig Taylor wanted nothing more to do with Sinn and Torres. However, late December 2013, during the holiday party at his home in Houston, Adam Sinn sent the above photo by text message to Craig Taylor. In the morning of December 24, Adam Sinn texted with Dave Schmidli:
Schmidli: "U didn't really send it to him?"
Sinn: "Yes I did"
Schmidli: "Omg!!! I thought u were joking"
Sinn: "Heck know" (sic)
Later that day, when emailing his "Under 40 Hot List" lawyer Chanler Langham, Adam Sinn pretended he never knew:
"I thought I was sending the photo to someone else, I know multiple Craig's and even two Craig Taylor's believe it or not. This is the first I've learned of Craig Taylor getting sent this photo errantly."
Chanler Langham went along with that story as he explained to Craig Taylor's lawyer:
"It is my understanding that Mr. Taylor received the message and photo in error. It was not meant for him to receive it and it was not directed at him either. Indeed, the message had nothing to do with Mr. Taylor or the lawsuit that we amicably resolved."
After which he added:
"This message was sent to a large number of people who have done business or have been associated with Atlas in the past, including a person with the same name as your client: Craig Taylor. I believe the tag line was 'Happy Holidays from Atlas.' Although the sense of humor may be lost on sum, this apparently is there version of a humorous holiday card." (sic)
And that was extremely amusing to Adam Sinn and several others including even Chanler Langham, as is clear from Sinn's text messages:
"Yes he sent that"
"LOL"
"CRAIG GOING nuclear"
"Craig may hade XMAS eve heart attack"
"CMAS miracle Craig has heart attack"
"Chanler called he's dying laughing now too"
"Anyone know if Chanler gave Craig a heart attack?"
Next, "Rising Star" lawyer Chanler Langham followed up that he was "a bit tired" as an excuse for his "typo" that the tagline contained "Atlas" instead of "Aspire," which is Sinn's company. Obviously, not buying any of it, Craig Taylor's lawyer wrote back on December 25:
"The text Craig Taylor received contained no tag line. Please forward the messages themselves with tag line and the list of recipients by Friday."
And that, although being a very reasonable request, was something Adam Sinn simply refused to do. After being ignored for a week, Craig Taylor's lawyer reached out again, inducing Chanler Langham to keep harping on his "typo" and that Craig Taylor received the photo "in error."
To confirm those assertions, another request followed for "the original texts with the original tag lines and a list of recipients." Adam Sinn, however, did not provide anything. Once more, on January 7, Craig Taylor's lawyer wrote to Chanler Langham:
"We've asked repeatedly that you forward the original texts with a list of recipients, but you haven't provided it, so let me reiterate: sending this obscene message under the name 'Atlas' to people associated with Atlas is a breach of the settlement agreement. All we've asked is that you verify that your second email is true, that this had nothing to do with Atlas. So far you have refused."
This led "Top 100 Trial Lawyer" Chanler Langham to invoke the mediation clause of the settlement agreement to resolve the "dispute." Puzzled, Craig Taylor's lawyer replied:
"[if] litigation follows, your clients will be required to produce in discovery what we're requesting now."
"It is curious that Mr. Sinn and Mr. Torres would prefer to spend time and money jumping through all of these hoops instead of just forwarding what they claim would exonerate them and dispose of this issue completely."
"If this was all a mistake, proving it is easy .... What makes absolutely no sense at all is to insist on spending thousands of dollars going through a mediator instead of just forwarding the requested information. It does make sense if Mr. Sinn and Mr. Torres have something to hide, though."
After a fruitless mediation, Adam Sinn et al. sued Atlas Commodities and Craig Taylor to enforce the settlement agreement (Cause No. 2014-40964 in Harris County, TX).
Nevertheless, Adam Sinn simply kept stalling and even ignored a court order:
"Despite repeated requests and an order from the Court compelling him to do so, Sinn has never produced the material he apparently still maintains would exonerate him. What little he has produced is heavily redacted, purportedly for privilege."
Adam Sinn indeed did have something to hide, and he was willing to make utterly false statements for it, such as these in an affidavit under penalties of perjury, no less:
"On December 22, 2013, I sent the Picture via group text message to the persons pictured in the Picture, Joonsup Park and David Schmidli. I did not send the picture to any customers or affiliates of Atlas, nor did I make any negative remarks about Taylor or Atlas."
After his endless delays, during his deposition in 2015, Adam Sinn was confronted with evidence he could not dispute and suddenly "Sinn admitted that he sent the photograph to an unknown person or persons with the message 'Happy Holidays Atlas.'"
The deceit did not end there and was not contained to Sinn alone:
"Torres and Sinn have each offered testimony at odds with other statements they have made under oath at different times when it suited their interests."
"In addition, Torres has admitted and Sinn has confirmed that they committed fraud in executing
the Settlement Agreement."
Eventually, after almost three years in court, this lawsuit got settled as well. In an attempt to cover their tracks, Adam Sinn et al. requested to seal the court records "because these documents contain highly sensitive and personal information":
"The interest in sealing these documents from public disclosure greatly outweighs any presumption of openness because the facts and allegations contained in the documents are not a matter of public interest."
Nope. Wrong. The rules regarding sealing court documents are very clear and an observant and concerned member of the public filed an opposition:
"Plaintiffs’ Motion to Seal Court Records (the “Motion to Seal”) includes conclusory allegations that parrot the language of Rule 76a, but fails to offer any proof that would bring one or more of the 'court records' within the ambit of the rule."
Rightfully so, the judge immediately agreed to this intervention and denied the Motion to Seal. And therefore, this revealing story about Adam Sinn is part of the public domain and is available in full detail for your perusal at the Office of Harris County District Clerk, or alternatively, here.