Dayton Daily News
Former Coolidge Wall attorney files suit against firm
Barbara L. Sager, also a shareholder in Coolidge Wall, claims discrimination
DAYTON | A prominent corporate attorney who was expelled from one of Dayton's oldest and largest law firms filed a 51-page lawsuit Thursday against the firm, claiming corporate misconduct, age and sex discrimination and breach of contract.
Barbara L. Sager, represented by Dwight D. Brannon and Andrea G. Ostrowski, filed the lawsuit in Montgomery County Common Pleas Court against Coolidge Wall Womsley & Lombard Co., LPA, 33 W. Third St.
Sager writes a column that appears weekly in the business section of the Dayton Daily News. Coolidge Wall, a firm of more than 50 attorneys, represents the Daily News in some legal issues.
Sager, a 1985 graduate of Harvard Law School, joined the firm in 1994, working on complex business transactions, and within two years became a shareholder, the lawsuit said. She became the first and only woman shareholder to rise to management in the firm, the lawsuit said.
In June 2003, the chairman of the firm's Compensation Committee accused Sager of "bad lawyering" in an unidentified case she was working on, the lawsuit said. She denied the allegation, but that month, her compensation was reduced by $42,000, the lawsuit said. An attachment to the suit shows Sager's 2002 salary was $180,000, and includes other documents purporting to show the compensation for shareholders, the ranking attorneys in the firm.
Sager was expelled from the firm in November 2003.
The lawsuit claims Sager's compensation was damaged by more than $3 million. A three-page document indicates Sager was among the firm's top five attorneys for hours of billing from 1997 through 2002.
The lawsuit also includes allegations of misconduct by other members of the firm and contends the male attorneys were never expelled as she was.
J. Stephen Herbert, president of Coolidge Wall, said that he received a copy of the lawsuit Thursday but had not had an opportunity to closely review it.
"It was not a surprise that this was coming," Herbert said. "The allegations in the complaint are false . . . We're confident those claims will be shown as false. We're going to undertake defending it.
"In today's world, she can allege what she wants and file it in court," Herbert said.
Brannon and Sager could not be reached for comment after the lawsuit was filed.
In a press release from Brannon, he said, "Ms. Sager has filed this lawsuit not just to recover her damages, but to vindicate her reputation which has been badly damaged by Coolidge."
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