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Biglaw Docket Scanner: Firms Do Battle Over Unpaid Fees

Here's a list of large law firms that have appeared in litigation as a plaintiff or defendant from March 29 to April 7.

By Michael Montalto  
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Ed. note: This is one of the latest installments in a series from Bloomberg Law’s team of expert contributors.  As Commercial Product Director at Bloomberg Law®, Michael Montalto used years of experience working with dockets at an Am Law 100 firm to develop Bloomberg Law’s Dockets, and he continues to direct innovations, enhancements and expansion of dockets capabilities.

Below is a list of large law firms that have appeared in litigation as a plaintiff or defendant from March 29 to April 7, according to docket searches on Bloomberg Law. The search scanned Am Law 100 firm names as either plaintiffs or defendants in federal, state, and international courts.

• Perkins Coie brought an action on March 29 in the Illinois, Cook County Circuit Court to enforce a judgment awarded in King County, WA against Denovo Properties Holdings, LLC for the amount of $60,915.38.

• Shearman & Sterling filed a complaint against Safka Holdings, LLC on March 30 in the New York Supreme Court seeking payment for legal services performed in the amount of $25,645.65.

• Shen Zen New World Investment brought a suit against Holland & Knight and partner Lynn Cadwalader in Los Angeles Superior Court on March 30. The suit focuses on Lynn Cadwalader’s time as Co-Chair of Holland & Knight’s Global Hospitality, Resort and Timeshare practice. The suit alleges legal malpractice during Holland & Knight’s representation of Plaintiff’s failed bid to convert a hotel they had purchased from a Marriott branded hotel to a Hyatt. The dispute surrounds pending arbitration between the Plaintiff and Hyatt and involves a conflict of interest allegation due to lead partner Lynn Cadwalader’s subsequent representation of Hyatt and her recent move to DLA Piper, who is currently representing Hyatt against the Plaintiff in the pending arbitration. Plaintiff seek damages to be proven at trial but claim losses between $10 million and $104 million.

• Blank Rome accuses defendants Princes Point, LLC, Lawrence Bresnock, Albert Bresnick and Cohen Group JS, LLC of failure to pay $2.2 million in legal fees. The complaint was filed on March 30 in the New York Supreme Court and involves services in a case in the same court: Princes Point LLC V. AKRF Engineering, P.C., et al., Index No. 601849/2008

• Center Lane Partners and other lenders representing the bankruptcy estate of DebtorEvergreen International Aviation, Inc. brought a legal malpractice and disgorgement of legal fees action against Skadden, Arps, Slate Meagher & Flom in a complaint filed in the New York Supreme Court on March 31. The suit alleges the diversion of assets to insiders at the expense of the Debtor, claiming that Skadden benefited from conflicting representation of Evergreen International Aviation and its founder and former owner, Delford Smith, a Portland, Oregon based entrepreneur. The Plaintiff lenders claim losses of $19.8 million.

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• Maria Dalton filed an E.R.I.S.A complaint against Standard Insurance Company and McDermott Will & Emory on April 1, in the Eastern District of California. The complaint seeks to recover benefits under the employee benefit plan.

• Akin Gump filed a notice of removal on April 4 to move a state court action in Bexar County, TX to the Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Texas, where the plaintiffs in the original state action filed for bankruptcy. Those plaintiffs, Advanced Bio Prosthetic Surfaces, Ltd., ABPS Venture One, Ltd., ABPS Management, LLC and Palmaz Scientific. Inc., allege a breach of fiduciary duty when Akin Gump represented the plaintiffs to form the entities intended to create medical advancements based on the work of Dr. Palmaz, inventor of the first commercially available intravascular stent. The original complaint alleges that Akin, Gump structured a license agreement that ensured financial benefit to itself while denying benefit to Plaintiffs and further alleges that while the firm Baker Botts had learned that that Akin Gump was responsible for damages, it failed to communicate it. Baker Botts is also named in the original action which claims damages over $10 million.

• Lawrence P. Ciuffitelli and other plaintiffs filed a class action alleging securities fraud in the U.S. District of Oregon naming Sidley Austin as a defendant along with Delloite & Touche, Eisneramper LLP and Tonkon Torp LLP. The suit alleges that securities related to student loans sold by Aequitas companies were sold in violation of Oregon Securities Law, were unstable and were sold through untrue statements. Sidley was one of Aequitas’ law firms in the deal where the plaintiffs are collectively claiming over $10 million in damages.

• The Estate of Charles Abrahams, SD Sports Association and Carlanda LLC filed a complaint in the San Diego Superior Court on March 25, naming Troutman Sanders and attorney Meghan Sherril as defendants, alleging wrongful foreclosure, breach of fiduciary duty and fraud. The Defendants filed a Notice of Removal on April 4 in an effort to move the case into The Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of California.

• Gibson, Dunn and Crutcher is defending an employment claim by Peter Gray in the Court of First Instance in the Dubai International Finance Centre for the amount of $466,740 in USD.

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• Area 55 and SAB Holdings filed a complaint on April 1 against Morrison & Foerster and partner Eric Acker in the San Diego Superior Court. The complaint alleges legal malpractice, stating that Morrison & Foerster failed to present a basic defense in a class action case. The complaint asserts that “that the sole putative class plaintiff did not even own the claims he was suing on because he had ditched them in his bankruptcy”. Plaintiffs are seeking $1.1 million in damages.

                                                                                                                                         

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