Two sparring PR firms in Atlanta have settled their differences out of court last week, two days before their scheduled trial.
Attorneys for Manning, Selvage & Lee and Jackson Spalding Ledlie, both multimillion-dollar PR houses based in Atlanta, were scheduled to appear March 24 in Superior Court of Fulton County to argue a two-year-old lawsuit. The two companies, however, reached an undisclosed settlement on March 22.
The lawsuit hinged on allegations by MS&L that JSL partners stole clients and company secrets from MS&L when they left to start their own firm in July 1995. (See PR NEWS, 3/27/97) MS&L directed its suit against JSL principals Joseph Ledlie, Glen Jackson and Bo Spalding - all former MS&L employees.
But the JSL trio also filed a counter suit alleging that the company's reputation had been marred by MS&L executives. Those civil claims involved libel and slander.
As part of the settlement, the two firms jointly issued a March 24 press release stating that the battling businesses agreed to dismiss the allegations they had levied against one another and to not discuss the case any more. Other terms of the deal weren't disclosed.
"We settled Saturday afternoon," MS&L Chairman and Chief Executive Kirk Stewart told PR NEWS last week. "The attorneys appeared in court Monday morning when the case was scheduled to begin and announced that an out-of-court settlement had been reached.
"I am not going to comment on what led to the agreement," Stewart added. "But I will tell you that several issues on both sides were resolved."
The battle between the two firms received its own share of PR, with articles appearing in the local press, including the Atlanta Journal & Constitution. (Manning, Selvage & Lee, Kirk Stewart, 212/213-7017)