Law Firms
Jury Rules for Morgan Lewis, Deliberates Fewer Than Four Hours
Posted Jan 31, 2008, 06:05 am CST
By Debra Cassens Weiss
Morgan Lewis & Bockius has won a $20 million breach of contract case that claimed the law firm gave clients bad advice about sales to Cuba in violation of a U.S. trade embargo.
Philadelphia jurors found that the suit had been filed within the four-year statute of limitations, but the law firm did not breach its contract with its legal advice, the Legal Intelligencer reports. Jurors deliberated only 3½ hours before reaching a unanimous defense verdict.
Aaron Marks, the lawyer for the plaintiff Purolite Corp., said the company is considering an appeal, Bloomberg News reports.
Morgan Lewis had argued the law firm advised Purolite to avoid any sales to Cuba involving U.S. operations, but the company ignored the advice because it was interested in profits. Purolite’s two founders were charged with violating the embargo and pleaded guilty to a lesser charge.