Venable sues ex-client over $300K bill, claiming fraudulent inducement
In a federal lawsuit filed last week against a former client, Venable doesn’t simply accuse Overseas Lease Group Inc. of failing to pay a $300,000 bill.
The company fraudulently induced Venable to step in and pursue big-ticket contract litigation against the U.S. government on its behalf after failing to pay a $229,000 bill to its former counsel, Wiley Rein, contends the complaint (PDF) in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia case.
Then, by urging Venable to handle the case aggressively, OLG unnecessarily ran up the bill at its new law firm, the suit says.
It alleges that OLG’s CEO lied to Venable about the reason why the company needed new counsel, claiming that Wiley Rein had engaged in unauthorized settlement negotiations. But in fact, the suit says, OLG was trying to avoid paying Wiley Rein after winning a summary judgment in the government contract case in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims.
“OLG ultimately fired Wiley Rein, not because Wiley Rein had engaged in unauthorized settlement negotiations, but because Wiley Rein had demanded payment, OLG had failed and refused to pay Wiley Rein what it was owed, and OLG had by then, through deceit, convinced Venable to substitute its appearance for Wiley Rein’s in the COFC matter,” the complaint says.
Asserting breach-of-contract, fraud and quantum meruit equitable claims, the suit seeks payment of the $300,000 bill, pre- and post-judgment interest and punitive damages from OLG and the company’s president and CEO.
“We intend to vigorously defend the allegations, including raising claims of gross overbilling, overstaffing and duplicative charging of time as reported to us by our independent expert’s review of the Venable invoices,” OLG general counsel Donna Marie Zerbo told the Blog of Legal Times. “We are committed to exposing Venable’s gross overbilling practices to vindicate OLG’s abuse and to draw attention to such practices generally. The allegation of fraud against Mr. Badcock is unfounded and he will consider all available options, including counterclaims for damage to reputation and character.”
Updated at 3:35 p.m. to include OLG’s comment.
