A federal judge has declined to dismiss a bankruptcy trustee’s claims against law firm Thompson Coburn, which faces allegations that the firm failed to make necessary disclosures while its client, a technology manufacturing company now in bankruptcy, was used as a “vehicle” in an illegal exportation scheme.
U.S. District Judge Matthew W. Brann of the Middle District of Pennsylvania allowed the claims against attorney Michael de Leon Hawthorne and Thompson Coburn to move forward in a Wednesday ruling. Brann also denied motions to dismiss claims against accounting firms Clairmont Paciello and Mountjoy Chilton Medley. However, he noted that significant questions about equal fault and statute of limitations remain to be answered following discovery.
