After the Breakup

After the Breakup

By David R. Corder

Associate Editor

Scott Charlton received a disturbing message last month at his St. Petersburg home. His law partners, James W. Clark and Anthony Martino, advised him they had terminated him from the Tampa law partnership the three co-founded about 10 years ago.

Within a couple of weeks, Charlton sued Clark, Martino and what was once Clark Charlton & Martino PA, one of the most active plaintiffs' law firms in the Tampa Bay area.

The firm's breakup is not an isolated occurrence, though there doesn't appear to be a common economic reason for the breakups.

Two other plaintiffs' law firms with a considerable presence in the Tampa Bay area also recently reorganized. They are Orlando's Morgan Colling & Gilbert PA and Tampa's Gunn Merlin PA.

Last month, Stewart Colling and Ron Gilbert broke off their 18-year partnership with John Morgan - whose television ads are regularly shown throughout Florida and the country. The firm had become one of the most visible law firms in the state through Morgan's "For the People" TV advertisements.

The reorganization had little effect on the 85 lawyers statewide or the 26 who practice in the firm's Tampa office, Morgan says. They are now affiliated with what is the Morgan Law Firm PA. Orlando attorneys Colling, Gilbert and Melvin Wright spun off to form Colling Gilbert & Wright PA in Maitland.

"The bad news for the insurance industry is it's more of the same," Morgan says. "John Morgan will always be in business because the insurance industry will never do the right thing."

About two years ago, Morgan says he acquired all of Gilbert's shares in the law firm and began the process of acquiring Colling's shares. The three parted amicably over disagreements about Morgan's strategy for rapid growth.

"We had a two-year window to do this," Morgan says.

During that time, the firm has repositioned its practice areas, Morgan says. For one, the firm reduced its focus on nursing home litigation in Florida and expanded the practice into states such as New York and Arizona. He attributes that decision to improvements in Florida's nursing home industry.

"There's been a real dip in (nursing home) business," he says. "But we're making it up."

The firm has since refocused some of its resources on hurricane insurance claims and pharmaceutical products liability, especially Vioxx, the anti-inflammatory pain medication, Morgan says. He says there's plenty of business for the firm's lawyers.

"In the state of Florida, we have 26,000 active cases," he says.

Late last year, Tampa lawyers William "Chip" Merlin Jr. and Lee Gunn IV ended their four-year partnership. They practiced in the areas of insurance law, complex personal injury, medical malpractice and bad faith insurance claims.

Neither of these two board certified trial attorneys responded to requests from GCBR for comment about the reasons for their breakup.

Gunn now advertises as the Gunn Law Group. Tampa engineer and attorney Ralph M. Guito III is listed as a member of the firm.

It appears most of the associates at what was Gunn Merlin switched their employment to what now is the Merlin Law Group PA.

Those associates are Kristin Demers-Crowe, Mary Kestenbaum, Kelly Kubiak, Jason Ciofalo and Dave Pettinato.

One of the attorneys listed on the Gunn Merlin roster of attorneys opted for new employment opportunities. Daneil McAuliffe now practices law in Clearwater at H. Dennis Rogers PA.

Meanwhile, Charlton's complaint against his former partners in the Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Court describes a messy breakup.

"The defendants have also taken the position that Charlton is entitled to nothing, effectually nullifying his ownership interest," the complaint states. "The defendants have changed the locks on the law firm premises and have denied Charlton access to files, client information and even his calendar - a crucial bundle of information for a lawyer engaged in practice in the courts."

No one from the newly named Clark Martino PA responded to a GCBR request for comment about Charlton's claims.