Murphy & Demory, Ltd., et. al. v. Admiral Daniel J. Murphy, U.S.N. (Ret.), et. al.
Virginia Circuit Court
Chancery No. 128219 (1994)
- Written by Richard Lavigne, JD
Facts
Admiral Daniel Murphy (defendant), an employee of Murphy & Demory, Ltd. (Murphy & Demory) (plaintiff), desired to either take over control of Murphy & Demory or form his own competing company before resigning. Admiral Murphy enlisted the help of Siemer and Mendelson, two attorneys employed by a law firm involved in providing legal counsel to Murphy & Demory, Pillsbury, Madison & Sutro (Pillsbury) (defendant). Pillsbury placed Siemer in charge of identifying conflicts in the firm's dual representation of Admiral Murphy and Murphy & Demory. Mendelson held a position of seniority in the firm. Siemer and Mendelson tried to recruit the director of Murphy & Demory to support Admiral Murphy’s takeover bid and prepared legal documents to effectuate the proposed takeover. Siemer and Mendelson organized employee meetings and helped Admiral Murphy prepare remarks intended to entice other employees of Murphy & Demory to quit and join his competing company. Siemer and Mendelson helped some employees write resignation letters. Siemer and Mendelson also prepared letters intended for use by current Murphy & Demory clients, authorizing transfer of their files and business to Admiral Murphy’s proposed new company. After being terminated from representation of Murphy & Demory, Siemer and Mendelson sued, seeking a court order to dissolve Murphy & Demory. Murphy & Demory filed a lawsuit, which included claims of malpractice, against the attorneys and Pillsbury.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Roush, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 802,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,300 briefs, keyed to 988 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.