Cullen & Dykman cannot represent the estate of Phebe H. Baugher, daughter of W.S. Wilson Corp. founder Hugh Hirschon, in a $22 million dispute with the company because of a conflict of interest, a judge has ruled. Surrogate Edward W. McCarty III in Nassau County (See Profile) has ruled that the firm could not represent the executor of the estate, Ms. Baugher’s son, Jonathon Baugher, because it used to represent W.S. Wilson, a Long Island-based plane parts maker. Ms. Baugher’s father left her a trust owning all the company’s stock, and Mr. Baugher is seeking to recover money allegedly being withheld by the company and its directors, including five other children of Ms. Baugher.

The company moved to disqualify Cullen & Dykman from representing Ms. Baugher’s estate on the grounds that it represented her from 2005 until 2008 in preparing her will and represented the company from 2007 until 2009. Mr. Baugher argued that the firm should not be disqualified because it represented the corporation only in general business matters unrelated to the estate dispute. Surrogate McCarty disagreed. “The representation of the corporation by Cullen & Dykman over a period of years gave the firm access to confidential information and triggers a presumption that the firm is in possession of confidences related to the issues in this proceeding,” he wrote in Matter of Baugher, 353909/P. “This presumption was not successfully rebutted.”

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