Robertson v. Cartinhou

2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 126030 (2011)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

P is an attorney and resident of Tennessee. D lives and operates businesses in the Washington, D.C. - Maryland - Virginia metropolitan area. P and D formed a partnership, W.A.R. LLP in the District of Columbia, through which P was to work as an attorney in connection with securities class actions, while Cartinhour was to develop a related consulting business ancillary to Robertson's legal services. P was to focus on a securities class action, the 'Liu Action' that had been filed in the Southern District of Florida, then transferred to the Southern District of New York. P and D agreed to contribute services and cash to the partnership, and that any profits would be reinvested in the partnership. Between September 2004 and April 2006, D contributed $3.5 million in cash to the Partnership and, between September 2004 and August 2009, P contributed $3.83 million in services. The 'Liu Action' yielded no profit and P began investigating another securities class action matter. On January 9, 2009, and February 6, 2009, D demanded the return of all the money that D had invested in the Partnership. P did not return any money to D. P filed a complaint in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia seeking a declaratory judgment enforcing the Indemnification Agreement that D had signed. D's counter-complaint asserted several claims against P, including fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, breach of partnership agreement, and negligent misrepresentation. On November 9, 2010, P filed the instant action in this Court, alleging that D and the Attorney Defendants had violated various federal laws, including RICO, during the course of the D.C. Action. Ds filed motions to dismiss or, in the alternative, to transfer this action to the D.C. Court. The D.C. Action went to trial and, on February 18, 2011, the jury in that action rendered a verdict, finding that P was liable for breach of fiduciary duty and legal malpractice and awarding D $7 million in compensatory and punitive damages. P moved in this Court to stay this action. An involuntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition was filed against the Partnership in November 2010. D moved to transfer this Rico action to the DC court.