Firm Disqualified for Dropping One Client, Then Suing It for Another
A firm that represented two software competitors for years without issue can’t ditch one client and then sue it on behalf of the other, a Massachusetts federal court said July 26, according to a Bloomberg Law report.
A Massachusetts federal judge said Sunstein Kann Murphy & Timbers LLP’s breach of duty of loyalty was clear and the situation was not “unforeseeable.”
Reporter Mindy L. Rattan explains: Sunstein represented tech companies Syncro Soft and Altova from 2011 to 2017, until Altova asked Sunstein to sue Syncro Soft for patent infringement in June 2017, the judge said. The next month, Sunstein sent a letter to Syncro Soft terminating the relationship to avoid a conflict of interest. Sunstein then sued Syncro Soft on behalf of Altova in August 2017. Syncro Soft moved to disqualify Sunstein, which the court granted.
Read the Bloomberg Law article.
