January 4, 2012 - A health supplement company called Creative Compounds LLC settled its malpractice lawsuit with its former law firm, Adorno & Yoss LLP. The company filed suit against Adorno and one of its former partners, Thomas L. Peterson, for allowing several patent applications to lapse.
Creative Compounds alleged that Peterson's negligence cost the company opportunities to protect their products through patents. The company also claims that despite the fact that Peterson knew a deadline for one of its products - Octopamine - had passed, he maintained that the application was pending and even sent warning letters to third parties using the allegedly-patent-pending product.
Adorno countered that "none of Creative Compounds' hypothetical patents satisfy patentability requirements” and denied that Creative Compounds had suffered any damages. U.S. District Judge Stephen N. Limbaugh Jr. dismissed the suit and precluded Creative Compounds from pursuing any further actions against Adorno and Peterson. No other details of the settlement were made public.
Adorno closed its doors in March 2011 after its founder was suspended from practicing law.