Dispute over high heels leads to lawsuit

A Laurel footwear inventor has alleged she was given the boot from her own company thanks to the law firm she turned to for help, which she also accuses of professional negligence.

Angela Singleton claims Jay G. Cohen, a partner with Duane Morris LLP in Baltimore, arranged a deal to have another of his clients become an investor in Singleton’s company and had her sign away her intellectual property rights without warning her of the potential consequences.

Ten years after creating a new kind of high-heeled shoe, Singleton was a minority owner of her company when it filed for bankruptcy, according to the complaint.

“As a direct and proximate result of Defendants’ negligence, and Singleton’s loss of a decade’s worth of work in developing the subject technology through the company’s demise and her exclusion from the company, Singleton suffered tremendous distress,” states the complaint, filed Tuesday in Baltimore City Circuit Court.

Singleton estimates the compensatory damages to exceed $10 million, according to the lawsuit.

Singleton developed two inventions to make high-heeled shoes more comfortable to wear and formed a company called Pique Inc. in 2004 to develop and market her product, according to the lawsuit. She met Cohen in 2008 when the lawyer spoke at a legal clinic at the Emerging Technology Centers business incubator in Canton, according to the lawsuit.

Cohen’s profile on Duane Morris’ website states he “regularly counsels start-up companies seeking to attract venture capital funding” and has represented companies in the retail and fashion industries.

Pique retained Duane Morris in January 2009, and by the end of the year Cohen and his colleague, George J. Nemphos, were providing business advice to Singleton and “actively searching” for investors in Singleton’s company, the lawsuit states.

Nemphos is managing partner of Duane Morris’ Baltimore office who has “extensive experience representing… venture capitalists and angel investors,” according to his profile on the firm’s website.

Cohen turned to Jaemin Park, a client and former colleague of Cohen’s who was now an investor, and Park in turn solicited Zeid Masri, another investor and Duane Morris client, according to the lawsuit. Cohen disclosed to Singleton his connections to the investors but “never counseled or advised Singleton regarding his conflict of interests of its possible adverse consequences,” which compromised his representation of Singleton, the lawsuit states.

“Cohen misleadingly advised Singleton that his simultaneous representation of all parties would work to her benefit because all parties relied upon and trusted Cohen and he would look out for everyone’s interests,” the complaint states.

Neither Park nor Masri is named as a defendant in the lawsuit.

Cohen subsequently formed a separate limited liability company to acquire 100 percent ownership of Singleton’s intellectual property, according to the lawsuit. While Singleton requested Cohen make sure she have a say in major decisions of Pique, Cohen’s March 2010 agreement to secure funding for the company gave Park and Masri enough interest combined in the company to have majority ownership, the lawsuit states. Pique’s board of directors — Singleton, Park and Masri — also was set up so decisions could be made a simple majority rather than a unanimous vote, according to the lawsuit.

“Discord” between the owners began in 2012 over personnel issues, the complaint states. Park and Masri ultimately filed and won a federal lawsuit declaring the board of directors was governed by a majority vote and fired her from the company in June 2012, the complaint states. Singleton’s ownership stake in Pique then fell from 40 percent to less than 3 percent by the end of 2012, and the company filed for bankruptcy in November 2014, the complaint states.

Singleton’s lawsuit also alleges numerous instances of professional negligence by Cohen, including advising Singleton to pay some of her legal bills not to Duane Morris but to Smeyne Ross LLC, a Maryland company owned by Cohen and Nemphos. The company name is derived from the maiden names of Cohen and Nemphos’ wives, according to the complaint.

“In order to conceal this arrangement, Cohen and Nemphos did not provide Singleton or Pique with a written retainer agreement regarding Smeyne Ross and Smeyne Ross never issued any bills,” the lawsuit states.

Smeyne Ross also acquired 3 percent equity interest in Pique after securing the funding, with Cohen and Nemphos preparing themselves the transaction documents, according to the complaint.

The stress over Pique caused Singleton health problems that were ultimately diagnosed as a rare blood disorder, the lawsuit states. She now undergoes regular blood transfusions as part of her $550,000 in annual medical bills and can only work part-time, according to the complaint.

Joshua M. Peck, a spokesman for Duane Morris, declined to comment about the lawsuit.

Andrew Radding, Singleton’s lawyer, did not respond to requests for comment. Radding is a member of Adelberg, Rudow, Dorf & Hendler LLC in Baltimore.

The case is Angela Singleton v. Duane Morris LLP, 24C15001044.