Attorney Lawrence Hess sued a client of his former law firm alleging breach of contract, among other claims. The circuit and appellate courts denied his claims and imposed sanctions for bringing the claims for an improper purpose.
Hess’s employment agreement and breach of contract suit
Hess had an employment contract with his former law firm, Kanoski & Associates, where he had been an associate. The contract stated, “Employee acknowledges that while licensed employees must perform all legal services, the clients contracting for said services are clients of the Corporation and not of any individual employee.”
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MEMC manufactures polysilicon, which is used to manufacture semiconductor chips and solar cells. Starting in 1996 MEMC’s wholly-owned subsidiary MEMC Pasadena, Inc. entered into informal, short-term arrangements with Semi-Materials’ predecessor-in-interest to help MEMC Pasadena sell silicon, and later silane gas, in South Korea in exchange for sales commissions.
In 2003 Semi-Materials and MEMC Pasadena entered into an agreement whereby Semi-Materials was appointed MEMC Pasadena’s exclusive sales representative for the sale of polysilicon and silane gas in South Korea. Under the agreement MEMC Pasadena would pay Semi-Materials a commission on all polysilicon and silane gas sales that were “purchased from [MEMC Pasadena] by the user of the PRODUCTS and delivered by [MEMC Pasadena] to a site within [Korea]” according to the compensation percentage rates listed in Appendix A.
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