Last
week,
a
lawsuit
against
Blank
Rome
finance
partner
James
Cretella
was
filed
by
his
former
firm,
Otterbourg
P.C.,
for
breach
of
contract,
breach
of
fiduciary
duty,
fraudulent
concealment,
and
unjust
enrichment.
The
allegations
in
the
suit
are
a
roller
coaster
ride
that
swings
between
the
banal
and
sensational.
For
example,
Otterbourg
alleges
Cretella
didn’t
disclose
his
impending
departure
until
after
he’d
collected
a
seven-figure
bonus
and
that
he
solicited
clients
to
join
him
at
his
new
firm.
From
the
complaint:
“He
accepted
[the
bonus]
knowing
full
well
he
was
leaving
and
that
he
had
perpetuated
a
scheme
to
try
to
hobble
the
Firm
and
bolster
a
competitor
while
conspiring
with
another
exiting
partner
and
concealing
material
facts
that
would
have
changed
the
Board’s
decision
to
give
him
a
bonus.”
Which
are
interesting,
if
somewhat
expected,
allegations
following
a
partner’s
lateral
move.
These
things
don’t
typically
come
to
litigation,
but
they’re
certainly
known
pain
points.
But
then
there
are
the
escort
allegations.
According
to
the
complaint,
Cretella
met
up
with
an
escort
and
other
women
while
traveling
on
firm
business.
During
a
forensic
examination
of
Cretella’s
firm-issued
and
firm-paid
phone,
it
was
revealed
that
he
allegedly
engaged
in
“highly
inappropriate
and
potentially
unlawful
personal
conduct
that
Cretella
engaged
in
during
Firm-funded
travel,”
that
included
texts
messages
with
an
“upscale
dominatrix”
known
as
“Goddess
Kat.”
Then
there’s
the
cyberstalking
allegations.
There’s
a
separate
federal
suit
in
the
U.S.
District
Court
for
the
District
of
Connecticut
by
Otterbourg’s
chairman,
Richard
L.
Stehl,
and
its
president,
Richard
G.
Haddad,
over
those
claims,
and
Cretella
has
filed
a
motion
to
dismiss.
The
Otterbourg
firm
leaders
allege
Cretella
engaged
in
repeated
“unauthorized
surveillance”
of
their
personal
lives.
As
reported
by
Law.com:
“Forensic
evidence
shows
that
over
a
period
of
years,
Cretella
repeatedly
accessed
private,
non-client
files
belonging
to
both
men
without
their
permission
or
legitimate
purpose,”
the
most
recent
suit
states.
“These
were
not
stray
clicks
or
accidental
views.
The
data
shows
hundreds
of
deliberate
intrusions
–
often
in
the
dead
of
night
–
targeting
files
that
…
had
nothing
to
do
with
firm
business.”Some
of
this
sensitive
information
allegedly
included
home
security
system
codes
and
login
credentials
for
live
camera
feeds
inside
and
outside
the
Stehl
family
residence,
personal
tax
returns
and
Social
Security
password
files,
privileged
legal
communications
relating
to
“deeply
personal
family
matters,”
including
divorce
proceedings
and
custody
arrangements
involving
grandchildren,
confidential
medical
records,
private
financial
statements,
as
well
as
“intimate
personal
details,”
including
children’s
employment
documents
and
home
renovation
plans.
Now
those
are
more
lurid
allegations.
But
in
Cretella’s
motion
to
dismiss
the
federal
action,
he
alleges
the
personal
information
was
saved
on
the
firm’s
computer
system
and
accessed
through
a
preview
function
after
performing
searches.
“Although
plaintiffs
try
to
hide
behind
irrelevant
allegations
about
how
Otterbourg’s
computer
system
was
intended
to
operate,
the
complaint
confirms
a
simple
fact
fatal
to
plaintiffs’
standing:
Using
firm-provided
credentials,
Cretella
and
other
attorneys
searched
the
firm’s
computer
network
and
viewed
the
results
of
those
searches,
which
allegedly
included
files
plaintiffs
saved
to
the
firm-wide
network.
The
only
plausible
conclusion
is
that
plaintiffs
failed
to
take
any
measures
to
prevent
their
files
from
being
accessed
through
routine,
firmwide
network
searches.”
And
Cretella
isn’t
the
only
Otterbourg
partner
who
recently
lateraled
to
Blank
Rome.
And
wouldn’t
you
know
it,
there’s
also
an
Otterbourg
complaint
filed
against
that
attorney,
Ikhwan
A.
Rafeek.
That
lawsuit
also
alleges
access
to
private
files
of
Stehl
that
Rafeek
“repeatedly
and
systematically”
viewed
when
he
“deliberately
exploited”
a
computer
system
vulnerability.
The
suit
also
alleges
Rafeek
improperly
solicited
clients
in
anticipation
of
his
lateral
move
at
events
paid
for
by
Otterbourg.
Rafeek
hit
back
at
the
allegations
against
him
in
a
motion
to
dismiss,
saying
the
complaint
was
“baseless”
with
“bogus
claims”
in
an
“attempt
to
punish
Rafeek
vindictively”
because
he
left
the
firm.
The
sour
grapes
defense
is
echoed
in
Cretella’s
filings
in
the
federal
case.
In
an
affidavit
in
that
case,
he
wrote,
“Facts
and
circumstances
convince
me
that
my
decision
to
leave
Otterbourg,
and
not
any
grand
privacy-related
injury
that
plaintiffs
now
claim,
brought
on
this
lawsuit.”
You
can
read
the
recent
complaint
against
Cretella
below.
Kathryn
Rubino
is
a
Senior
Editor
at
Above
the
Law,
host
of
The
Jabot
podcast,
and
co-host
of
Thinking
Like
A
Lawyer.
AtL
tipsters
are
the
best,
so
please
connect
with
her.
Feel
free
to
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