The Delaware Valley firm of Elliott Greenleaf has filed a lawsuit against Wilmington attorneys who jumped to Armstrong Teasdale.
The St. Louis-based law firm recently opened an office in Wilmington.
The complaint filed in the Montgomery County (PA) Court of Common Pleas makes numerous allegations that include shredding of records and putting items from the Wilmington Office into storage.
According to the suit, “defendants secretly planned to join the law firm of Armstrong Teasdale, and for months before doing so, secretly converted plaintiff’s client files and work product, shredded and destroyed plaintiff’s client files and property, lied to plaintiff about their intention to join the Armstrong Teasdale law firm, and all the while actively attempted to delete and destroy evidence of this misconduct contained on plaintiff’s computer systems.”
https://storage.googleapis.com/delawarebusinessnow-cdn/2021/02/Docket-12233720-0.pdf
Attorneys joining Armstrong Tisdale were Shelley A. Kinsella, Jonathan M. Stemerman, Eric M. Sutty, and Rafael X. Zahralddin. Named as a defendant in the suit was Zahralddin.
An email message seeking comment was sent to a regional director of Armstrong Teasdale on the allegations that include:
- Armstrong Teasdale has presented information well before December 30 about firm clients, billable hours, and revenue received from clients.
- During the December 1, 2020 Shareholders meeting, Zahralddin discussed the Wilmington Office’s legal services. He represented to his fellow shareholders that given the pandemic’s economic climate, prospects for bankruptcy-related work were up-and-coming and that the firm could expect an ‘avalanche’ of bankruptcy filings and restructuring opportunities in the first quarter of 2021.
- On December 11, without the firm’s knowledge, the defendants shredded and destroyed another 288 pounds of paper files from the firm’s Wilmington office. The invoice for that work was left for the firm to pay.
- Before departing the firm’ with three-day advance notice during the holidays, Zahralddin, on behalf of himself and those acting with him, double-deleted the emails reflecting this forwarding of firm files to his iCloud account.
Click on the headline below for the Armstrong, Teasdale announcement.
Law notes: RLF, Young Conaway, Potter Anderson promotions; Armstrong Teasdale to open office
