Detroit Law Firm Faces $33 Million Malpractice Claim over Lacrosse Stick

Detroit-based Dickinson Wright was served on June 1, 2009 with a $33 million legal malpractice lawsuit regarding a lacrosse stick patent. The plaintiff is Warrior Sports Inc., a Michigan company that got a patent on its lacrosse stick design with a curved-head that makes it easier to scoop up the ball and shoot it.

Warrior alleges that two of Dickinson’s patent attorneys let Warrior’s patent lapse in 2004 after failing to pay a required maintenance fee on time. Warrior claims that competitors subsequently entered the market with similar sticks; it also claims that it had to reach an unfavorable settlement in an infringement case against a competitor because of the lapse.

The two Dickinson lawyers at issue, John A. Artz and John S. Artz, were with Artz & Artz in 2004 when the patent lapsed – their firm merged with Dickinson in 2007. Warrior claims that, in the settled infringement lawsuit, the Artz attorneys were accused of engaging in inequitable conduct for allegedly deceiving the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office to obtain the stick’s patent – another factor that forced the unfavorable settlement.