A Broward Circuit Court fight between Florida personal injury giant Anidjar & Levine and a spinoff firm formed by two former employees just got messier.

Less than two weeks after plaintiffs Victor Demesmin Jr. and Jeremy Dover sued their former employer for allegedly trying to thwart their efforts to go it alone with a startup firm, Anidjar & Levine has delivered a counterblow: It alleges the attorneys secretly began representing clients for their new Fort Lauderdale firm, Demesmin & Dover, while they were still on company time.

The counterplaintiffs are Anidjar & Levine, its founding partners Marc Anidjar and Glen Levine, the firm's separate PIP litigation division, the Personal Injury Protection Lawyers P.A., and its managing partner Travis Greene. Demesmin and Dover called the lawsuit "a desperate and malicious attempt to steal the spotlight," and argued the plaintiffs had failed to identify a client they'd actually lost.

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Related story: Former Anidjar & Levine Lawyers Accuse Firm of Weaponizing Its Network Against Them

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Company resources?

Demesmin and Dover resigned in November 2019, but the countercomplaint alleges they started their firm in September, and sent demand letters to multiple insurance companies on behalf of a chiropractor client in October.

"Under the circumstances, it is reasonable to assume that Dover and Demesmin provided legal services for additional clients of D&D prior to leaving the employ of PIPLPA," the countercomplaint said.

Anidjar & Levine accused Dover and Demesmin of using its postage machine for those demand letters, which it said added "insult to injury."

The countercomplaint also alleges Demesmin and Dover defamed Anidjar & Levine after filing suit, by trying to convince at least two Florida lawyers to stop doing business with the firm.

Anidjar & Levine contrasted those allegedly disparaging comments with the plaintiffs' resignation letters, which said they'd been happy at the firm, and their exit interview forms, which said the only thing that could have made them stay was to have their "name on the wall," according to the countercomplaint.

Meanwhile, Demesmin and Dover said they "are not surprised" by the counterclaim, which they labeled an attempt to detract from their allegations.

"Of course, they are attempting to defend themselves in any way possible. They are alleged to have committed serious ethical violations by engaging in illegal patient-brokering through bartering the lives of the public during the COVID-19 pandemic," the attorneys said. "The defendants are grasping at straws, and we intend to shine a full light on the defendants' illegal actions. We have never hidden the fact from anyone at Anidjar & Levine we intended to leave their firm and start our own firm. We told this to Mr. Greene before we gave leave to which he did not object. The defendants' backs are against the wall and many people are watching. Since filing our complaint, new developments against the defendants are coming out seemingly every other day," the plaintiffs said via email. "This counterclaim makes this case even more intriguing, and demonstrates that desperate times do call for desperate measures."

Kevin Yombor and Avery Dial of Kaufman Dolowich & Voluck in Fort Lauderdale represent Demesmin and Dover.

Anidjar & Levine's attorneys Jeremy Slusher and Daniel Miller of Slusher & Rosenblum in West Palm Beach expressed a desire to keep their arguments in court.

"We prefer not to litigate cases in the media, so we will refer to the allegations outlined in our counterclaim and restate that our clients are confident they will be vindicated as this case proceeds," Slusher said via email.

The counterlawsuit seeks an injunction to block Demesmin and Dover from attempting tortious interference with advantageous business relationships, and accuses the two former employees of competing with Anidjar & Levine while still employed by it, breach of fiduciary duty, and defamation per se.

Broward Circuit Judge Carlos Augusto Rodriguez will preside over the litigation.

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