Faulting Both Sides, Judge Orders Novelist to Pay Lawyer $700K
A prolific, best-selling author who writes under the pen name Fern Michaels must pay more than $700,000 to her ex-attorney and onetime business partner, a federal judge in Manhattan has ruled.
August 14, 2017 at 06:01 PM
9 minute read
A prolific, best-selling author who writes under the pen name Fern Michaels must pay more than $700,000 to her ex-attorney and onetime business partner, a federal judge in Manhattan has ruled.
U.S. District Judge John Koeltl of the Southern District of New York threw out malpractice claims against the attorney, Martin Friedman, and his former firm, McLaughlin & Stern. But the judge ruled that Friedman violated disciplinary rules in entering into a commission agreement with his best-selling client.
The Aug. 9 decision came after a bench trial this year between Friedman and his ex-client, Mary Kuczkir, a successful author who writes under the Fern Michaels name. Kuczkir is responsible for 165 romance and thriller novels, nearly all of which have ended up on a best-seller list.
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