King & Spalding LLP and a lawyer who said he was unlawfully fired for raising ethics concerns will have to wait until at least June to square off at trial, after concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic led a New York federal judge to scuttle plans to push forward in April.
The Thursday order from U.S. District Judge Valerie E. Caproni cited the rising COVID-19 caseloads in the Big Apple and pushed back the trial of ex-King & Spalding associate David Joffe until June.
"The court is hopeful that the number of cases will be sufficiently lower by that point that the trial can proceed, given the COVID precautions that are in place in this district," the order said.
Joffe's trial was initially calendared for April 2020 but has been delayed several times by the pandemic. He sued his former firm in May 2017, saying he was wrongfully fired the previous year after
raising ethics concerns that two partners at the firm made false statements on behalf of then-client and Chinese telecom giant
ZTE Corp. in a contract breach case.
The firm denies the allegations and claims Joffe was an active player in the litigation that gave rise to the alleged breaches.
Joffe first joined King & Spalding in January 2012 and worked in the firm's commercial litigation group, according to his complaint. He said he was removed from the firm's partnership track and had his pay frozen and bonus revoked after raising concerns with the partners and reporting the alleged ethical snafus to the firm's general and outside counsel.
He was eventually fired in December 2016 and robbed of some of his retirement contributions in violation of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, he said.
The trial is set to proceed in front of a jury on Joffe's termination claim.
He alleged the firm violated the precedent established by the New York Court of Appeals in a 1992 case called Wieder v. Skala, which he said created an "implied-in-law obligation" that he not be penalized for raising ethical concerns.
In November, Joffe
dropped his bid for a jury to hear his ERISA claim.
King & Spalding and the partners were
sued separately in New York court over their defense of ZTE.
In her order Thursday, Judge Caproni also recommended that the parties get the COVID-19 vaccine.
"All attorneys that will participate in the trial are encouraged to get vaccinated as soon as possible in their state of residence," she said.
Joffe declined to comment Friday, and counsel and media representatives for King & Spalding did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Joffe is representing himself.
King & Spalding is represented by Joseph Baumgarten and Pinchos Nisson Goldberg of
Proskauer Rose LLP.
The case is Joffe v. King & Spalding LLP, case number
1:17-cv-03392, in
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
--Additional reporting by Pete Brush, Vin Gurrieri and Cara Salvatore. Editing by Haylee Pearl.
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