NEW ORLEANS (Legal Newsline) – A lawsuit over a disappointing alliance between personal injury lawyers was recently resolved in Louisiana federal court.
Lerner & Rowe filed suit Nov. 25 in federal court against Michael Brandner and his Brandner Law Firm, alleging breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty and violation of the Louisiana Unfair Trade Practices Act. Facing Brandner's motion for judgment, Lerner & Rowe and the defendant recently reached a resolution. Terms were not disclosed.
The lawsuit sought to dissolve Michael Brandner Injury Attorneys, a firm created in 2017 that each side owned half of. It was to be Lerner & Rowe’s foothold in Louisiana, but the suit said Brandner “fell short of expectations.”
After an initial three-year funding period ended, Lerner & Rowe says Brandner said his “sweat equity” was being undervalued when the Lerner firm told him to invest more of his own money.
Negotiations of a buyout were unsuccessful and Brandner boxed Lerner & Rowe out of the firm’s finances, the complaint says.
“It is not reasonably practicable to carry on the business of the company in conformity with the articles of organization or the MBIA operating agreement and/or the term of the company has reached the end of its stated term pursuant to the operating agreement,” the complaint says.
Brandner's motion for judgment argued Lerner & Rowe failed to join an essential party - Mike Brandner Injury Attorneys - that prevented the court from having jurisdiction over the dispute.
"The fact that the plaintiff purposely chose not to join MBIA is not relevant. The court must consider the citizenship status of a party who should have been named but wasn’t," the motion says. "A plaintiff cannot 'manufacture diversity jurisdiction by failing to join a non-diverse indispensable party.'"