Adler, Barish, Daniels, Levin and Creskoff v. Epstein

In Adler, Barish, Daniels, Levin and Creskoff v. Epstein, 482 Pa. 416, 393 A.2d 1175 (Pa. 1978) the plaintiff law firm sought and obtained injunctive relief prohibiting formerly employed associates from "contacting or communicating" with former clients of the firm. Prior to departing from the plaintiff law firm to organize their own firm the defendants compiled a list of 83 of the plaintiffs' cases which they were servicing as "security" for financing their new firm. One of the defendants engaged in an active campaign to procure business for his new law firm. He initiated contacts, by phone and in person, with clients of the plaintiffs with open cases on which he had worked while a salaried employee. His efforts did not stop with those contacts. He mailed form letters to clients which they could use to discharge the plaintiffs and retain the defendants. The activity of the defendants is described in the Opinion as "a concentrated attempt to procure the cases which had been used to obtain credit." The trial court found that the defendants had "tortiously interfered with the contractual and business relations that exist between [the plaintiffs] and its clients." The Court overturned a reversal by an intermediate appellate court and reinstated the final decree of the trial court.