Ballard Spahr Wins Suit Claiming Firm Pitted Two Clients Against Each Other
An entrepreneur who claimed Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll shared his business plan with a competitor has lost his lawsuit against the law firm.
A suburban Philadelphia jury returned a verdict for the law firm on Monday, the Legal Intelligencer reports. The plaintiff, Saul Epstein, was seeking between $17 million and $30 million in lost profits, as well as punitive damages.
The Intelligencer story outlines the dispute. Epstein had contended the law firm pitted his plan for a payday loan business against that of a competitor, McKenzie Cash Advance, both of which sought funding from Crusader Bank, a law firm client. Epstein claimed the law firm “sabotaged” his deal with the bank while promoting McKenzie.
The law firm took on representation of McKenzie after an initial meeting with Epstein. It agreed that it suggested Crusader Bank as a potential funding partner to both Epstein and McKenzie, but said it did not disclose Epstein’s business plan.
The firm maintained it told McKenzie about Crusader Bank after the initial meeting with Epstein but before a phone call in which Epstein told a firm partner he had met with Crusader Bank and developed a business plan. Epstein said the disclosure was after the phone call.
Testifying for Ballard Spahr, a former Crusader executive testified the bank never had any interest in doing business with Epstein, the story says. Lawrence Fox of Drinker Biddle & Reath testified as an expert witness on legal ethics for the law firm.
