POM Sued by Hogan Lovells Over Legal Tab

Editor's note: What appears here is not the full story. Minutes before our deadline Friday, D.C. Superior Court Judge Judith Bartnoff signed a temporary restraining order against The National Law Journal enjoining it from publishing certain details that we legally obtained from court documents. Specifically, we are not allowed to name a government agency conducting a regulatory inquiry into one of the subjects of the article, POM Wonderful. We fought this order vigorously in court; we thought and continue to think that it is a violation of the First Amendment, and we are working on an appeal. Bartnoff, as she considered the order, said, "If I am throwing 80 years of First Amendment jurisprudence on its head, so be it." She said the court's interest in maintaining the "integrity" of its docket trumped the First Amendment concern. We strongly believe Bartnoff's action harms the integrity of the court by placing process concerns over fundamental constitutional rights. Sadly, however, because of Bartnoff's order, we were forced to scrub this article of any reference to the agency. We apologize to our readers for being unable to provide the fullest report possible. — David L. Brown, editor in chief

How does a long client relationship crumble? With $666,265 in unpaid legal bills and accusations of "unnecessary and substandard legal services," according to a suit in District of Columbia Superior Court.

Hogan Lovells says former client POM Wonderful has failed to pay more than a half-million dollars in legal fees and expenses the pomegranate juice maker incurred during nine months last year. The firm filed suit on Feb. 22, alleging breach of contract. POM fired back in court filings attacking Hogan's work and calling its fees "exorbitant."

POM's most notable response, however, has been an aggressive push to seal any document referring to the matter on which it ran up those lega ...