A recent Law 360 story by Dan Packel, “Ballard Spahr Settles $20M Antitrust Fee Suit With Symphony,” reports that Ballard Spahr has settled a Pennsylvania state court lawsuit aimed at recouping $20 million in fees the firm said it was owed by Symphony Health Solutions Corp. for work on a now-settled antitrust case against IMS Health Inc., according to a court filing.

The terms of the settlement are confidential, according to a Ballard Spahr attorney.  The Philadelphia-based firm sued Symphony in June 2016, alleging it was owed money pursuant to a fee agreement entitling the firm to a share of any recovery from the antitrust case, which accused IMS of illegally dominating the market for pharmaceutical and health care industry data.

Symphony filed the underlying suit in Pennsylvania federal court in July 2013 accusing IMS of preventing would-be competitors from accessing drug and health care data by entering into exclusive long-term agreements with pharmacies and providers.  A month before the antitrust suit was filed, the complaint said, Ballard Spahr and Symphony reached an agreement to substantially reduce month-to-month charges in return for a share in any recovery.

Symphony agreed to pay a monthly fee of 65 percent of fees incurred by Ballard Spahr attorneys capped at $125,000, with any excess carried over to the following month.  The complaint said Ballard Spahr was then entitled to 25 percent of any recovery below $25 million, and 15 percent of any recovery above $25 million.  The firm said its attorneys spent 53,000 hours on the case over two years.  Though Ballard Spahr blacked out the amount it believes it was owed in its complaint, Symphony said in preliminary objections in July 2016 that the law firm is seeking $19.9 million for a contingency fee payment.

The settlement inked in November 2015 to end the underlying case included the sale of AlphaImpactRx, a business spun off from Symphony, to IMS, according to the complaint.  The closing of that transaction was announced in February 2016.

However, Symphony argued in the preliminary objections that Ballard Spahr was not entitled to any money from the AlphaImpactRx sale because the company and stakeholders that made the sale to IMS were not the firm’s clients and not a party to any engagement letter.

Ruling on the preliminary objections in October 2016, Judge Patricia McInerney in the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas agreed to dismiss claims against certain Symphony shareholders after concluding Ballard didn't say it had provided legal services for them directly.  But she left the core of the suit intact, saying it was unclear precisely who had been a party to the fee agreement.

The case is Ballard Spahr LLP v. Symphony Health Solutions Corp. et al., case number 160501565, in the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County.