Courthouse Steps

CAUSES OF ACTION: Fraud; fraudulent concealment; breach of fiduciary duty; constructive fraud; rescission; declaratory relief; and legal malpractice.

COMPLAINT ALLEGATIONS: In 1994, Carey retained the firm of Shearman & Sterling as legal counsel. Ardi, the attorney at the firm responsible for Carey, left the firm in December 1995 and became a sole practitioner. Carey left Shearman and then retained Ardi, who worked as Carey's lawyer from December 1995 to Nov. 22, 2002. Carey paid Ardi 5% of all episodic payments and advances (but not residuals) that Carey received from “The Drew Carey Show.” In June and October 2000, Ardi asked Carey to sign two sworn declarations for use in Ardi's pending divorce proceeding. By doing so, Ardi circumvented Carey's independent counsel, Burt Deixler of McCambridge, Deixler & Marmaro, and his other personal representatives, including his personal managers, Richard Baker and Rick Messina of Messina Baker Entertainment Corp. Ardi knew he was required to bring such matters to the attention of Carey's business representatives. Carey signed the two declarations, which stated that Carey didn't have to continue paying Ardi once Ardi's services were terminated. Ardi intentionally delayed preparing a written retainer agreement with Carey until after Ardi finalized his divorce because Ardi allegedly intended to defraud his ex-wife. The divorce was finalized in June 2002. In late 2002, Ardi insisted that he had a “lock-in” clause that entitled him to 5% of Carey's earnings on the series forever as well as additional compensation on other entertainment projects, in direct contravention of their agreement. (Ardi allegedly earlier fraudulently told Carey that the payments would not be locked in so that Carey would continue using his services and so he could later claim he was entitled to continuing compensation.) Carey terminated Ardi as of Nov. 22, 2002. On Nov. 21, 2003, Ardi sued Carey's accountants and business managers claiming that they interfered with the attorney-client relationship and caused Carey to terminate Ardi. In actuality, Carey decided to terminate Ardi on his own after consulting with another law firm, Edelstein, Laird & Sobel. Carey has been damaged in an amount equal to his payments made to Ardi from Dec. 1995 to Nov. 2002.