Arbitration Challenge Dismissed Without Prejudice
The United States District Court for the District of Columbia (Judge Moss) concluded that it lacked subject matter jurisdiction and dismissed without prejudice a complaint brought by a former criminal client of Latham & Watkins.
The firm had sought unpaid legal fees in an arbitration invoked under the retainer agreement.
The arbitrator had reduced the fees by $700,000 due to billing practice concerns and awarded $2.3 million in unpaid fees plus costs and expenses.
The former client filed the action seeking to vacate the award.
A press release of the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia described the underlying case
A man with citizenship in Lebanon and the United States pleaded guilty today to a two-count criminal information charging him with child exploitation offenses.
According to court documents, George A. Nader, 60, admitted that he arranged to transport a 14-year-old boy from Europe to Dulles International Airport for purposes of illegal sexual conduct in early 2000. Nader had met the boy in Prague, Czech Republic, and later brought him to his residence in Washington, D.C. Nader also admitted that, in September 2012, he possessed or accessed with intent to view video images of child sexual abuse while he was in New York. In exchange for the plea, the government agreed to dismiss an indictment involving similar charges returned in the Eastern District of Virginia in July 2019.
Nader pleaded guilty to one count of transportation of a minor boy for purposes of illegal conduct and one count of possession of child pornography, and faces a mandatory minimum penalty of 10 years in prison and a maximum penalty of 50 years when sentenced on April 10. Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after taking into account the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
Nader had been previously been convicted of transporting child pornography into the Eastern District of Virginia in 1991.
(Mike Frisch)