“As we all know, the Federal
Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the decision of Claims Court Judge Smith by
deciding that there was no contract between Benj. Franklin and the government
over the long time amortization of the goodwill acquired as part of the
acquisition of Equitable Savings & Loan. This decision ignored the affidavits
of the three government officials who negotiated with Benj. Franklin. These
affidavits said that there was such a contract. This factual determination is
not the kind of case which the United States Supreme Court would review.
The Federal Circuit sent the case
back to the Claims Court (this is called a Remand) to decide whether there
should be compensation for the admitted breach of contract with Benj. Franklin
in connection with the smaller acquisition of Western Heritage Savings & Loan.
After much study and research,
lead plaintiff Bob Suess and his attorneys, Winston & Strawn, concluded that
there was no realistic chance of winning on this issue. Meanwhile, I had been
working with former Benj. Franklin financial experts, as volunteers, to develop
a theory of compensation. These financial experts were not available to help
until after the conclusion of tax season on April 15th.
Bob Suess and Winston & Strawn
then filed in Court a Notice of Dismissal of the case with prejudice. At that
point, I filed a motion on behalf of the other plaintiffs to substitute my law
firm as attorneys for the Remand and supported it with legal and factual
arguments which I believe have a reasonable chance of winning.
Bob Suess and Winston & Strawn
then withdrew their Notice of Dismissal, and agreed that my firm should be lead
counsel on the Remand with Bob Suess continuing as a plaintiff and Winston &
Strawn being of-counsel. I welcomed this collaboration.
