Biglaw

Judge Finds Kasowitz Benson Really Does Need To Comply With Deadlines

And that's not even the most interesting part of the case.

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Benchslapped-01Biglaw firm Kasowitz Benson has some sanctions headed their way, thanks to Florida Circuit Court Judge G. Joseph Curley. Well, to be more fair, the firm’s failure to meet the deadline to answer a lawsuit filed by Laura Perlmutter — wife of Marvel chair Isaac Perlmutter — is behind the sanction.

Kasowitz didn’t answer the complaint until 38 days after the deadline had passed — and only after Perlmutter filed a motion for default judgment and the firm’s appeal was rejected by an appellate court. And the judge was not pleased with the Biglaw firm’s tactics:

“Defendants’ dilatory tactics required plaintiff to initiate unnecessary motion practice and return to court for another hearing,” the judge said. “Plaintiff is entitled to attorney’s fees and costs that she incurred as a result of defendants’ bad faith behavior.”

As reported by Law360, the court took umbrage at the delays:

“Defendants are not free to ignore a court-imposed deadline in favor of their preferred schedule,” he said. “The law is clear that an extension request is no substitute for a responsible pleading.”

Judge Curley added that the firm didn’t file its answer immediately after the appellate court rejected its petition, even though that was Kasowitz’s “self-prescribed basis to delay.”

“Instead, defendants continued their delay despite the denial of their petition, which left no justification (self-prescribed as it was) for further delay,” he said.

In the underlying lawsuit, Perlmutter accuses the firm of using tainted DNA results to try to paint her as sending hate mail to her neighbor — and Kasowitz client — Canadian businessman Harold Peerenboom. The incident occurred almost 10 years ago. But really, the details of the complaint read like a soap opera:

According to the suit, the Perlmutters moved to Sloan’s Curve, a residential community in Palm Beach, in 1991. There, the couple became friends with the community’s tennis center operator. Peerenboom moved into the neighborhood in 2007 and eventually tried to push out the tennis center operator, Perlmutter said. That dispute led to the underlying litigation.

Peerenboom began receiving anonymous hate mail in late 2012, a year after firing one of his attorneys, Perlmutter says.

In early 2013, Peerenboom retained named partner Marc Kasowitz along with [then-partner Michael Paul Bowen], Perlmutter said. The firm, Kasowitz and Bowen represented the businessman until December 2020, she says.

Although Peerenboom immediately suspected the terminated employee of being behind the mail, a plan was concocted to steal the Perlmutters’ DNA, per the suit. Later, a falsified DNA report was taken to the police, Perlmutter claims.

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All of which is a very entertaining backdrop to a legal industry truism: file things by the deadline.

Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).

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