Duane Morris Defends $1.6M Malpractice Claim
Duane Morris maintained in opening statements this week that it didn’t commit malpractice by failing to include a security guarantee in a settlement agreement it drafted for a client, the Legal Intelligencer reports.
The law firm has been sued for $1.6 million by an ex-client who says he received only $200,000 out of a $1.8 million settlement agreement with a company he founded, the legal publication says. The client, Joseph Adlerstein, sued his troubled company, SpectruMedix, after it fired him and sold all of its stock to a new investor. Adlerstein was to receive an immediate payment of $200,000 under the agreement and subsequent $200,000 payments every six months.
Duane Morris lawyer Nicholas Centrella told Philadelphia jurors a guarantee could not be provided in the agreement because SpectruMedix was refusing to provide one—and Adlerstein knew it, the story says. He said Adlerstein had gotten buyer’s remorse and refused to accept an earlier settlement agreement that would have paid him $800,000 within five days.
Adlerstein contended a Duane Morris partner, who is no longer with the firm, originally suggested his legal fees in the case would be about $75,000, but his legal bills climbed to about $480,000. His $200,000 payment under the settlement went to Duane Morris for fees.
