Edwards Wildman Says Salacious Suit Should Be in Arbitration
Edwards Wildman Palmer is seeking to dismiss a suit by two former partners who claim they were effectively forced out of the firm due to an affair by the managing partner.
The law firm says in its response to the Delaware lawsuit that the partnership agreement requires the claims to be resolved in arbitration, the Am Law Daily reports.
One of the plaintiffs, Lawrence Cohen, claims his wife, who is also an attorney at the firm, had an affair with managing partner Walter Reed. The relationship led to a lost leadership position and a cut in pay, leading him to leave the firm, the suit had claimed. The other plaintiff, Jay Rosenbaum, alleges he also had to leave because his clients were “inextricably linked” to Cohen.
Edwards Wildman filed a brief (PDF) in support of the motion to dismiss that says the plaintiffs cite the partnership agreement “to weave their tale” and demand additional profits. “For reasons currently known only to plaintiffs and their counsel, plaintiffs breached the partnership agreement’s clear requirement that disputes among partners and the firm be resolved not in court, but through final and binding arbitration,” the brief says.
Reed will be stepping down from his leadership role at the firm some time early this year, the Am Law Daily says. The publication notes that the response does not mention the affair allegations made in Cohen and Rosenbaum’s “salacious suit.”
