DLA Piper, Milberg and others will have to face claims of malicious prosecution and attorney deceit lodged by Facebook Inc., a New York state judge ruled Monday. Justice Eileen Rakower of state Supreme Court in Manhattan refused to toss Facebook’s lawsuit, which accuses four law firms and nine individual lawyers of knowingly pursuing bogus claims against Facebook on behalf of Paul Ceglia.

The firms affected by Monday’s ruling—DLA, Milberg, and Lippes Mathias Wexler Friedman—each represented Ceglia at various points in a lawsuit claiming that the western New York businessman signed a contract with now-Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg entitling him to an 84 percent ownership stake in the company. A judge dismissed Ceglia’s suit last year after determining that the purported contract was forged. Ceglia is currently a fugitive after fleeing related criminal charges.

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