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Pom Sues Hogan Lovells, Calls Legal Fees "Exorbitant"

July 27, 2010 | Posted in : Billing Practices, Ethics & Professional Responsibility, Expenses / Costs, Fee Agreement, Fee Dispute, Fee Dispute Litigation / ADR, Unpaid Fees

A recent NLJ story, “POM Sues Hogan Lovells Over Legal Tab” reports that POM Wonderful has filed a lawsuit in District of Columbia Superior Court with accusations of “unnecessary and substandard legal services” and calling Hogan Lovells’ attorney fees “exorbitant”.  The lawsuit is in response to a breach of contract claim filed by Hogan Lovells in February over $669,265 in unpaid legal fees and expenses.  POM has taken an aggressive stance to seal any document relating to the legal fee dispute.  In fact, Superior Court Judge Judith Bartoff signed a temporary restraining order preventing The National Law Journal from publishing the name of the governmental regulatory agency before which Hogan represented POM.

POM is a subsidiary of privately held Roll International Corp.  According to court documents, Roll Vice President and General Counsel Craig Cooper signed the original fee engagement letter in December 2002, agreeing to pay for “various legal services.”  By November, the law firm and the company were at loggerheads and then POM turned to Covington & Burling to handle the regulatory matter.  Hogan wants the fee dispute case in open court in Washington, DC where the representation took place, but POM wants the fee dispute matter resolved with the confidentiality of arbitration, opting instead to have the case decided in California, where POM is headquartered and under California’s State Bar’s Mandatory Fee Arbitration Program, where under California law, a client has a statutory right to request arbitration when a fee dispute arises, and that arbitration becomes mandatory for the attorney involved in the fee dispute.

POM Wonderful is being represented by Barry Coburn of Washington’s Coburn & Coffman.

Hogan Lovells is being represented by Washington solo practitioner Randell Ogg.