Bloom firm files countersuit against Depp

The law firm sued by actor Johnny Depp for legal malpractice has hit back with a countersuit of its own, but the lack of a written agreement may leave the firm with an uphill battle.

Depp filed a lawsuit in October accusing his former lawyer, Jacob A. Bloom, and his firm Bloom Hergott Diemer Rosenthal Laviolette Feldman Schenkman & Goodman LLP, of unjust enrichment, self-dealing and breach of fiduciary duty.

As part of his lawsuit, Depp sought a declaratory judgment that a fees agreement between himself and the law firm was unenforceable. In the firm’s cross-complaint filed last week, the firm seeks a mirrored declaratory judgment enforcing the validity of the agreement.

The law firm claims it had an oral agreement under which Depp agreed to pay Bloom Hergott “a fixed percentage of their gross entertainment income, whenever received.”

Heather L. Rosing, chairperson of the Professional Liability Department at Klinedinst PC, said that attorneys are supposed to have their fee agreements hammered out in writing, with few exceptions, such as when rendering services on an emergency basis or to a corporation. Without a written agreement, the best attorneys can likely hope for is the reasonable value of their services, known as quantum meruit.

As evidenced by Bloom Hergott’s request in the complaint for the reasonable value of its services should the court find the oral agreement unenforceable, Rosing said it’s likely the firm is bracing for such a ruling. Depp v. Bloom et al., BC68066 (L.A. Super. Ct., filed Oct. 17, 2017).

Rosing said disputes over the enforceability of an oral agreement are “very common” in legal malpractice complaints. They tend to happen most often when there’s a longstanding relationship between attorney and client, she said, as was the case for Depp and Bloom Hergott. Prior to the split, the firm had represented Depp since 1999.

Howard King, a partner at King, Holmes, Paterno & Soriano LLP not involved in the case, said without a written fee agreement, Bloom Hergott will likely have to show the hours it put into its representation of Depp.

“I think they’d have an uphill battle,” King said.

Adam Waldman, a D.C.-based attorney with The Endeavor Law Firm PC representing Depp, said Monday that “the so-called cross-complaint is barely that.”

The cross-complaint seeks a court finding on the validity of the fee agreement, which is “precisely the same thing Depp requested,” Waldman said.

“Indeed, Bloom Hergott concedes this, noting that their claim is the ‘mirror image’ of Depp’s filing,” Waldman said. “Johnny Depp has always treated Jake Bloom fairly — and it turns out, paid him handsomely, to the tune of tens of millions of dollars. There’s nothing in Bloom’s cross-complaint that suggests otherwise, despite false reporting to the contrary.”

Waldman said the fact that Bloom Hergott did not file a motion to dismiss “speaks volumes.”

“It means, essentially, that Bloom concedes that Depp’s lawsuit has legs and ought to continue,” Waldman said.

Waldman said that Depp had added Nora Engstrom, a legal ethics expert and Stanford law professor, to his legal team.

Kurt C. Peterson, a partner at Reed Smith LLP and counsel for Bloom Hergott, did not respond to a request for comment Monday.