A court filing by Coca-Cola last week alleging that the law firm Paul Hastings dropped it in order to represent a company suing the beverage giant gives in-house counsel all the more reason to scrutinize engagement letters with their outside counsel, legal observers say.

Atlanta-based Coca-Cola filed a motion to disqualify Paul Hastings as counsel for SuperCooler, which sued Coke in February alleging the company misused its trade secrets and seeking more than $100 million in damages.