BOSTON (Legal Newsline) - A nonprofit targeted with a class action lawsuit is suing the lawyers who represented it, accusing them of fraud and breach of contract.
Citizens Disability LLC filed a lawsuit May 8 in Massachusetts federal court against Woodrow & Peluso, LLC for breach of contract. The company alleges that the defendant, which represented plaintiffs in a previous case titled Thrower et al. v. Citizens Disability, LLC, made false representations which led to Citizens entering into a settlement agreement.
The complaint seeks a refund of the settlement money paid under the confidential agreement. It states that the defendant induced Citizens to enter into the settlement and it is voidable or breached the agreement.
The original lawsuit involved two named plaintiffs: Gene Thrower and Abante Rooter & Plumbing, Inc., owned by Fred Heidarpour. However, Citizens alleges that Andrew Heidarpour, a lawyer and son of Fred Heidarpour, was co-counsel with Paronich Law, P.C. from 2021-2023 in another federal matter titled Rogers v. Assurance IQ.
Citizens claims that less than 30 days after the dismissal of the Thrower litigation on January 8, 2024, attorney Paronich filed a case in the District of Massachusetts against Citizens with his same client from the Rogers case, Gwendolyn Thompson as the named Plaintiff.
Citizens asserts that Ms. Thompson was a class member in Thrower and an existing client of co-counsel, attorney Paronich, at the time. Therefore, representations made in the Settlement Agreement in Thrower were either breached or false when made, the suit says.
Jeffrey Rosin of O'Hagan Meyer represents the plaintiff.