Eastman Kodak Company v. Sony Corporation

2004 WL 2984297 (2004)

Facts

Woods Oviatt Gilman, LLP (Woods) is a law firm. Wood had a business model that intentionally sought to avoid having Kodak (P) as a client. It thus attracted and represented clients who have interests adverse to P. Woods represented Heidelberg Digital LLC (Heidelberg). Woods represented Heidelberg in its dealings with P. Woods also handled two employment discrimination lawsuits for Heidelberg. P acquired D. Following P's acquisition of Heidelberg, Woods continued to act as defense counsel in the employment cases and continued to bill for legal services rendered in those cases. P acquired D. Following P's acquisition of Heidelberg, Woods continued to act as defense counsel in the employment cases and continued to bill for legal services rendered in those cases. Bauer, a partner at Woods, entered an appearance in two separate cases opposing P. One is a patent infringement suit. The other is a class action complaint alleging, P has engaged in an ongoing pattern and practice of discrimination against its African-American employees. Because P had acquired Heidelberg, and Woods continued to represent Heidelberg in litigation, P requested that Woods withdraw from the two recent cases.  Woods informed P that it would withdraw from further representation of Heidelberg. P filed a motion to disqualify Woods from acting as local counsel in the two recent cases.