In a $30 million dispute over an alleged conflict of interest, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius contends it never admitted to allegations lodged by its former client, Towers Watson Delaware.

Towers has alleged that Morgan Lewis represented another company, Meriter Health Services, and assisted Meriter's separate counsel in suing Towers. Towers moved for judgment on the pleadings last month, arguing that Morgan Lewis has admitted or “must be deemed to admit” that it knew there would be a conflict between Meriter's and Towers' interests, and that the firm never informed Towers of the conflict.

But Morgan Lewis, in a brief in opposition to Towers' motion for judgment, said its denials in an answer to Towers' complaint preclude the judge from ruling on the case at its current stage.

“Towers confuses the existence of evidence that it believes relates to its claims with the absence of a genuine dispute of material fact,” Morgan Lewis said in the April 13 brief.

Contrary to Towers' motion, Morgan Lewis argued, the firm in its answer to the complaint said it declined to participate in any litigation against Towers, and that Meriter hired another law firm to represent it in litigation against Towers. Morgan Lewis did not assist Meriter in the decision, the firm said in its brief, citing its answer.

The firm also argued that while Towers has said it learned about the conflict through a source other than Morgan Lewis, the source of the information did not matter.

“Towers cannot pretend that its consent was uninformed simply because its actual knowledge of the alleged conflict and surrounding circumstances was based on information that it learned from sources in addition to defendants,” Morgan Lewis said in its filing. “The source of Towers' knowledge is immaterial to the question of whether it gave informed consent.”

Additionally, Morgan Lewis argued, Towers has not shown that it was harmed by Morgan Lewis' alleged conduct.

According to Towers' complaint, Morgan Lewis represented Towers from 2009 to 2016. In 2010, the suit says, Morgan Lewis began defending Meriter in a retirement plan class action. After the class action settled in 2014, Meriter then sued a Towers entity that designed the retirement plan at issue, alleging that Towers was responsible for Meriter's liability in the class action.

Towers has alleged that Morgan Lewis used its representation of Towers to assist another law firm, referred to in the complaint as “Law Firm 2,” in developing Meriter's lawsuit. Morgan Lewis' filings identify Law Firm 2 as Nixon Peabody.

William Trask of Sprague & Sprague, who is representing Towers, declined to comment on Morgan Lewis' filing.