Legal News

We Lov Dov, Part II: ?Meet Keith?

By Ashby Jones

We’ve already spilled some ink today on American Apparel and Dov Charney, which earlier settled its lawsuit with Woody Allen. But in regard to Charney, well, we’re not quite ready to leave the topic.

In recent months, the company has been hit with four lawsuits, all filed by former employees and all handled by LA-based lawyer Keith Fink. Click here for a post from last November on Fink — shortly after he filed suit on behalf of a former employee named Roberto Hernandez.

Suffice it to say, the litigation between Fink and the company has been heated. In addition to a bizarre alleged sham arbitration, there’s been no shortage of hostility between the parties.

Now comes perhaps the oddest development in the ongoing feud. American Apparel has taken to running ads lambasting Fink in a variety of Los Angeles-based papers. Click here for a big shot of one of the ads, courtesy of THR, Esq. and reporter Eriq Gardner. According to Gardner, the ads first ran in The Daily Bruin, the student paper at UCLA, where Fink teaches two courses on the First Amendment. Ads later ran in the Los Angeles Business Journal and LA Weekly.

The ad doesn’t refer to ongoing litigation between the two sides, but blisters Fink: “Local Attorney Keith Fink has been sued 5 times for malpractice, extortion and defamation. He has been accused of illegal wiretapping and investigated by the California state bar.”

“It doesn’t surprise me at all,” Fink told the Law Blog. “I’ve been dealing with this company for a while now and they’ll really stop at nothing to try to intimidate me.” Added Fink: “What public company acts like this? If I were an American Apparel shareholder and I found out the company was spending its money on these types of ads, I wouldn’t be happy.”

American Apparel spokesman Ryan Holiday shot us an email in response.

It’s clear that Keith has manipulated the system, been sanctioned by the court on many occasions and has exploited his litigation privilege for years at the expense of American Apparel and dozens of Los Angeles businesses who work hard and employ people. We think the ads speak for themselves and we’re going to keep running them when it’s appropriate.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on May 18, 2009 (boomark / email).