Deliberations Begin in $20M Case Against Morgan Lewis
Philadelphia jurors are expected to resume deliberations today in a $20 million breach of contract suit against Morgan Lewis & Bockius.
The suit claims the firm improperly advised executives of Purolite Corp., a water filtration company, about whether it could trade with Cuba despite a U.S. embargo. Purolite’s two owners were charged with violating the embargo in 1999 and pleaded guilty to a lesser charge. Their lawyers said Morgan Lewis advised the company its foreign offices could continue to sell to Cuba because of Canadian and U.K. orders requiring companies to ignore the U.S. embargo.
Morgan Lewis lawyer William O’Brien told jurors in closing arguments that the law firm had advised Purolite to avoid any sales to Cuba involving U.S. operations, but the company ignored the advice because it was interested in profits. It was the U.S. trades that interested prosecutors, he said. The company “did exactly what the lawyers told them not to do,” he said, according to the National Law Journal.
Morgan Lewis also argued that Purolite had failed to file the suit within the four-year statute of limitations. Purolite claims the limitations period did not begin to run until 2001 when a federal judge rejected the owners’ defense that the company had to follow the laws of other countries over those of the United States. The suit was filed in 2004.
Updated at 12:03 p.m. CT to add a link to National Law Journal coverage.
