posted 2017 | Oil, LLC v. Stamax CORP.
Other lawyers know who to reach out to when they need a great appellate lawyer to represent them. Although almost all of his appeals are criminal appeals, Mr. Forman is often asked to to assist in all types of matters and once again, he delivered! Mr. Forman was hired to represent a lawyer in a civil case who was successfully removed from acting as the lawyer for his corporate client. This left the client without the lawyer of his choice. It also was costly to the lawyer.
The trial court disqualified counsel on the basis that counsel learned confidential information from the other party to the lawsuit whom he represented when the parties worked together before the lawsuit. The trial court found that once the other party sought counsel’s help, this formed an attorney/client relationship where confidential information was shared.
Mr. Forman made several arguments to the court, including the obvious one – that there was no attorney/client privilege because both parties were in the room when counsel was being consulted. The three judge appellate panel agreed with Mr. Forman and reversed the disqualification of counsel. To the dismay of opposing counsel, trial counsel was back on the case!
