Only half of Cellino & Barnes showed up for hearing over split
Score one for Ross Cellino.
The first-named half of the personal injury firm Cellino & Barnes — known for its “Don’t Wait, Call 8” ad jingle — walked out of a Buffalo courtroom smiling Thursday after winning a showdown with his estranged partner Stephen Barnes.
Barnes was conspicuously absent from the hearing over the breakup of his law firm, even though he had asked the judge for a preliminary injunction to block Cellino from allegedly poaching clients and staff.
Cellino’s “illicit conduct…continues to cause catastrophic damage to C&B, its reputation, ​​and its brand,” Barnes had argued in court papers filed early this week.
At the hearing Barnes’ attorney Gregory Photiadis seemed to contradict his client’s position by saying that the firm was “functioning as a well-oiled, multimillion-dollar machine.”
Cellino’s lawyer Terrence Connors called Photiadis out on the boast.
“They say their business is doing well,” Connors told the judge, adding that if that was the case then Barnes couldn’t also say Cellino was trying to “irreparably harm” the firm.
If anyone was hurting the firm it was Barnes, Connors said, accusing him of taking funds from the New York-based business to finance a California offshoot.
“What partner does that to another partner,” Connors asked.
On Monday Barnes first accused his law partner of 25 years of trying to pirate employees by arguing that his name carried more weight in the firm.
The ‘Cellino’ name is “Better than the ‘Barnes’” name, he bragged, comparing the squabble to Harley Davison saying, “No one ever calls their motorcycle a Davidson.”
Barnes said the comparison was “a pitch clearly intended to recruit C&B attorneys and employees to Ross’s new firm.”
Then Cellino hit back saying Barnes “dictatorial” for forcing their employees to pledge “loyalty oaths.” When they refused Barnes allegedly called one a “f—ing coward” and fired the other.
“Barnes has engaged in a coordinated campaign of bullying other attorneys into…declaring loyalty to him,” Cellno said in court papers.
The firm has 12,000 clients, employees 230 people and spends millions a year on advertising.
Cellino is suing Barnes to dissolve the firm.
Erie County Supreme Court Justice Deborah Chimes ruled against Barnes’ request to muzzle his partner.
“The court finds the respondent has failed to meet its criteria to quality for orders for a preliminary junction,” Chimes said.
Cellino declined to comment after the proceeding, but wore a Cheshire grin with his charcoal suit and heavily-tanned skin.
His lawyer, Connors, cheered that they “won very issue that was before the court.”
Barnes’ spokesman declined to comment or say why he was a no show.
The parties are due back in court in September when the judge will consider whether to put the firm in receivership pending the outcome of the case.