I have no insight into the attorney-client relationships in this case. That said, there were potentially underlying reasons why the Defendants litigating a (A) very expensive case with a (B) minimal chance of success was a smart move. In fact, these reasons are often overlooked by the attorneys themselves even when the attorneys would benefit greatly from the hundreds or thousands of hours of billable work.
One recent case comes to mind where I suspect this might have been the situation. In this case, the Court signaled its opinion when laying out the facts. Whenever the facts of a case include this language, we can all predict the outcome: Defendants are toast!
Between late July to mid-August, Williams and Sullivan began contacting each other without Keene’s knowledge. Williams told Sullivan not to tell Keene of their communications.
I hope Defendants’ counsel asked their clients a simple question: do you confidently believe your anticipated post-tax returns on the (alleged) fraudulently obtained funds would be equal to or greater than the estimates legal fees and costs? If so, then litigating the case would make economic sense–arguably, the legal fees would be paid for by the plaintiffs. Moreover, even if the anticipated returns are a fraction of the legal bills, the reduction in legal costs may make aggressively litigating the case more worthwhile.
Smart, experienced attorneys understand legal decisions are business decisions. The best attorneys understand that business decisions are made using a wide variety of facts including those that may not be considered by their clients and may even adhere to their own business objectives.
Link to case: Ancor Holdings, L.P. v. Landon Capital Partners, L.L.C
David Seidman is the principal and founder of Seidman Law Group, LLC. He serves as outside general counsel for companies, which requires him to consider a diverse range of corporate, real estate, dispute resolution and avoidance, contract drafting and negotiation, and other issues.
He can be reached at david@seidmanlawgroup.com or 312-399-7390.
This blog post is not legal advice. Please consult an experienced attorney to assist with your legal issues.
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