Carnegie Cos., Inc. v. Summit Properties, Inc.

Carnegie Companies (Carnegie) (plaintiff) engaged attorney Robert Karl of a law firm to help purchase property in one Ohio deal, and that representation was never formally terminated; months later, Carnegie began negotiating to buy a building from Summit Properties (Summit) (defendant), whose lawyer, Stuart Laven, worked at the very same firm in a different office and never ran a conflicts check before undertaking that representation. When the deal soured and Carnegie sued Summit to recover its earnest money, Laven filed an answer and counterclaims for Summit against Carnegie — his own firm's current client in the earlier, unterminated matter — and Carnegie moved to disqualify the firm; the trial court granted disqualification, and Summit appealed.