With the adversary suit all but gone in Diamond's view, he says he's back on track with the settlement talks. His attitude, he says, is "Either we're going to cut deals, or I'm suing you." Suits, he warns, will be filed soon. "The bottom line is … I'm the 800-pound-gorilla that you want to settle with."
Outside of recoveries from former partners, Diamond also continues to mine contingency fee cases that followed Howrey lawyers to other firms. He's most optimistic about an antitrust class action brought several years ago by Howrey lawyers—now at Baker & Hostetler—on behalf of dairy farmers in the southeastern U.S. who claim raw milk prices were fixed. As Litigation Daily, an affiliate of the Daily Report, has previously reported, two defendants in the case have already settled for $145 million, including $48.3 million in attorney's fees and $7.4 million in expenses to be divided between Baker and the Howrey estate. The case against the remaining defendant, Dairy Farmers of America, heads to trial next week in Tennessee federal court. With $1.5 billion at stake, Diamond says he'll be watching closely.
Sara Randazzo writes for The Am Law Daily, a Daily Report affilate.
