Malpractice Suit against Orrick Goes to Trial
A lawyer for Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe defended the law firm’s transfer of a family business at a malpractice trial that began this week.
Elliot Peters of Keker & Van Nest said plaintiff Fritzi Benesch wanted to undo the transfer of her clothing company, Fritzi California, after she learned of her husband’s affair, and family relations soured, the Recorder reports. The company is now controlled by Benesch’s daughter and the daughter’s husband. Benesch is seeking tens of millions of dollars in damages, the story says.
“Mrs. Benesch will try to have you believe that she was kept in the dark,” Peters told San Francisco jurors yesterday. “In fact, she is savvy and pays attention to detail.”
Benesch claims Orrick lawyer William Hoisington, now retired, didn’t make it clear that she was giving up control of the company. Benesch’s lawyer, Jonathan Bass of Coblentz, Patch, Duffy & Bass, told jurors the case is about “a law firm favoring one set of clients over another,” the story reports.
