He claims Brad Lakin and his law firm, now called LakinChapman, breached contract by failing to provide 90 days written notice of his termination, as required by an employment agreement.

Millar was terminated on December 29th.

The suit alleges the defendants falsely accused him of excessive absenteeism and faltering work performance so that it could “use these claims as a pretextural excuse to terminate Millar” and avoid increased costs of medical coverage for him and his son.

Allegedly, Millar’s son has an extremely rare medical condition requiring extraordinarily expensive care. This raised the rates of the entire firm’s health insurance plan through Aetna.

The firm switched group health insurance to United HealthCare in 2007. Millar says the firm knew the new insurance would adversely affect his child’s care.

After Millar threatened to sue the insurer, UnitedHealthcare began to cover his son in February 2008 at “considerable additional expense to the group health plan.”

Millar claims that on December 30th, the Lakin firm terminated four additional employees of the firm without cause or justification.

“Upon information and belief, these employees were also discharged for exercising their rights under the provisions of Defendants’ group health plan,” the complaint states.

Since he did not receive proper termination notice, Millar claims the terms of his employment agreement remain in full force through 2009, entitling him to $126,465 in salary and fees generated in class action cases.

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Chapman, 66, was a Madison County circuit judge from 1979 to 1988, when he has elected to the 5th District Appellate Court in Mount Vernon.

Following his retirement from the bench in 2001, Chapman has been engaged in a trial practice as an attorney associated with the Lakin Law Firm.

The firm will be divided into seven practice areas: maritime law, railroad law, class action, nursing home abuse, workers compensation, personal injury and appellate law.

In October, Tom Lakin, founder of the Lakin Law Firm, was sentenced to six years in prison for drug charges. Lakin pleaded guilty to drug charges of possession with the intent to deliver cocaine, distributing cocaine to a person under 21 and maintaining a drug house.

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