Motion to Disqualify an Attorney Who Had Previously Represented Both Parties and Related Businesses Should Have Been Granted

The Second Department determined a motion to disqualify an attorney who had represented both parties in related matters should have been granted:

Here, prior to the commencement of this action, the defendant’s attorney had provided legal advice to both the appellant, Barbara Gordon, and the defendant in their capacity as business partners and members of several limited liability companies. There was a substantial relationship between the involvement of the defendants’ attorney in the formation of those limited liability companies, and his involvement as general counsel to those limited liability companies in connection with the instant action for an accounting. In his capacity as general counsel, the defendant’s attorney was in a position to receive relevant confidences regarding several of those limited liability companies, in which the plaintiff’s interests are now adverse to the defendant’s interests. Thus, under the circumstances of this case, the Supreme Court improvidently exercised its discretion in denying the appellant’s motion to disqualify the defendants’ attorney… . Gordon v Ifeanyichukwu Chuba Orakwue Obiakor, 2014 NY Slip Op 03232, 2nd Dept 5-7-14