Ice Cube's Basketball League Ends Fraud, Malpractice Suit Against Quinn Emanuel
Big3's lawsuit, which Quinn Emanuel had derided as "fantasy-laden," lasted just 11 days.
June 12, 2020 at 01:43 PM
3 minute read
Three-on-three basketball league The Big3, co-owned by Ice Cube, has quietly abandoned a lawsuit accusing Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan of putting its lucrative relationship with the Republic of Qatar ahead of its attorney-client obligations to the fledgling sports project.
Eleven days after an explosive complaint alleging that the litigation powerhouse inserted itself into a court fight the league had with its former commissioner to serve the interests of existing Qatari clients, The Big3 filed papers Monday to discontinue the New York state lawsuit with prejudice.
"Big3 and Quinn have resolved their disputes in their entirety," league attorney Michael Taitelman said in an email.
Quinn Emanuel did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday.
Attorneys with Beys Liston & Mobargha in New York and Freedman + Taitelman in Los Angeles wrote in the complaint that the law firm ignored "inescapable" conflicts of interest when offering to represent the league in a lawsuit brought by ex-commissioner Roger Mason, and used its involvement to shift the defense strategy away from a focus on Qatar's conduct.
Mason was fired as commissioner in 2018. The league, which is co-owned by Harvard Law graduate and longtime entertainment industry executive Jeff Kwatinetz, contended that Mason was pushed out because he and other Big3 employees had been corrupted by agents of the Qatari government who had promised the previous year to make a multimillion-dollar investment in the league. This was part of the same push for international respectability that informed the country's successful bid for the 2022 World Cup, which, according to the complaint, also depended on bribery and involved the same principals.
In a statement after the suit was filed, Quinn Emanuel cast the complaint as a "fantasy-laden" attempt by Big3 to avoid its legal bills. "Unfortunately, Big3 doesn't want to pay us for the work we did," the firm said May 28. "Big3 was fully advised about the firm's other various representations and is simply trying to avoid paying its bills."
|Read More
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
NOT FOR REPRINT
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
You Might Like
View All'Further Investment in Power' Will Drive Big Law Business—But What About Clean Energy Projects?
6 minute readLegal Departments Gripe About Outside Counsel but Rarely Talk to Them
4 minute readAs Profits Rise, Law Firms Likely to Make More AI Investments in 2025
Law Firms Mentioned
Trending Stories
Who Got The Work
Michael G. Bongiorno, Andrew Scott Dulberg and Elizabeth E. Driscoll from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr have stepped in to represent Symbotic Inc., an A.I.-enabled technology platform that focuses on increasing supply chain efficiency, and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The case, filed Oct. 2 in Massachusetts District Court by the Brown Law Firm on behalf of Stephen Austen, accuses certain officers and directors of misleading investors in regard to Symbotic's potential for margin growth by failing to disclose that the company was not equipped to timely deploy its systems or manage expenses through project delays. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton, is 1:24-cv-12522, Austen v. Cohen et al.
Who Got The Work
Edmund Polubinski and Marie Killmond of Davis Polk & Wardwell have entered appearances for data platform software development company MongoDB and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The action, filed Oct. 7 in New York Southern District Court by the Brown Law Firm, accuses the company's directors and/or officers of falsely expressing confidence in the company’s restructuring of its sales incentive plan and downplaying the severity of decreases in its upfront commitments. The case is 1:24-cv-07594, Roy v. Ittycheria et al.
Who Got The Work
Amy O. Bruchs and Kurt F. Ellison of Michael Best & Friedrich have entered appearances for Epic Systems Corp. in a pending employment discrimination lawsuit. The suit was filed Sept. 7 in Wisconsin Western District Court by Levine Eisberner LLC and Siri & Glimstad on behalf of a project manager who claims that he was wrongfully terminated after applying for a religious exemption to the defendant's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The case, assigned to U.S. Magistrate Judge Anita Marie Boor, is 3:24-cv-00630, Secker, Nathan v. Epic Systems Corporation.
Who Got The Work
David X. Sullivan, Thomas J. Finn and Gregory A. Hall from McCarter & English have entered appearances for Sunrun Installation Services in a pending civil rights lawsuit. The complaint was filed Sept. 4 in Connecticut District Court by attorney Robert M. Berke on behalf of former employee George Edward Steins, who was arrested and charged with employing an unregistered home improvement salesperson. The complaint alleges that had Sunrun informed the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection that the plaintiff's employment had ended in 2017 and that he no longer held Sunrun's home improvement contractor license, he would not have been hit with charges, which were dismissed in May 2024. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer, is 3:24-cv-01423, Steins v. Sunrun, Inc. et al.
Who Got The Work
Greenberg Traurig shareholder Joshua L. Raskin has entered an appearance for boohoo.com UK Ltd. in a pending patent infringement lawsuit. The suit, filed Sept. 3 in Texas Eastern District Court by Rozier Hardt McDonough on behalf of Alto Dynamics, asserts five patents related to an online shopping platform. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap, is 2:24-cv-00719, Alto Dynamics, LLC v. boohoo.com UK Limited.
Featured Firms
Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C.
(470) 294-1674
Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone
(857) 444-6468
Smith & Hassler
(713) 739-1250