Summary: Dissolving firm Butler & Hosch has a new worry: former employees are suing them.
Butler & Hosch have enough to worry about. After all, they were recently the nation’s premier foreclosure firm, dominating 90 percent of the United States’ foreclosure litigation. Perhaps they got overeager, what with their flash of acquisitions, because with their latest merger with Morris Schneider & Wittstadt they choked. Not only that, they’ve got more troubles: their 700 some lawyers they’ve had working for them, nestled as they were throughout the U.S., feel they were due at least the 60-day warning employers are expected to give before firing their employees. That’s why former employees Stephen Regal and Gianna Hillis have hired attorney Seth Lehrman to take on Butler in a class action lawsuit.
Butler & Hosch CEO Bob Hosch announced in a letter to his staff he was stepping down and that Michael Moecken would aid in liquidating the company. Evidently this news was too abrupt for the lawyers in question, because if anybody would sue for being fired, you could expect it to cross the mind of 700 lawyers freshly out of work.
“Though Mr. Moecker has complete access to our assets, he will not have sufficient cash on hand to fund payroll at the end of this week,” Hosch had written. “Without BH employees and attorneys, there is no ongoing operation. BH cannot continue to function.”
Nevertheless, the suit claims the firm “knew that terminations were anticipated but failed to provide employees, nor state and local authority, with advance notices as required” by law. They aim to establish this in a trial by jury.
The former employees are being represented by Farmer Jaffe Weissing Edwards Fistos & Lehrman lawyers Gary Farmer, Steven Jaffe, Mark Fistos, and Lehrman. Butler & Hosch will be represented by Roy Kobert.
News Source: Daily Business Review
