Legal News

Ex-Heller suit calls partners to come out come out wherever they are

By Richard Binder

Former employees of Heller Ehrman sued at least 179 former partners on Friday, demanding $32 million for the largest group of creditors in the defunct firm's bankruptcy.

The adversary proceeding filed in the Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of California targets all partners who were at the firm on Aug. 11, 2008, when 60 days' notice should have been given to the first employees laid off on October 10th, according to Craig Collins of the Los Angeles litigation boutique Blum Collins.

Since Heller's former shareholders prefer not to be called partners, in that they were technically shareholder employees of the professional corporations that composed the limited liability partnership, this could make proving liability for the LLP's employee wages a little more complicated.

The suit, which proposes a plaintiffs class of the former employees, also attempts to create a defendant class. It names former Chairman Matthew Larrabee and members of the executive, policy and compensation and dissolution committees.

Full story at The Recorder.

Full post as published by Legal Pad | LA on April 27, 2009 (boomark / email).