Greenberg Freeman secures a third dismissal for client DDDDC, Inc.

In the latest installment of a long and tortuous litigation, Greenberg Freeman has obtained dismissal of a federal lawsuit brought against client DDDDC, Inc. and its principal owner by a former customer, WD Music.

WD Music initially commenced an action in Suffolk County Supreme Court in 2007, alleging that DDDDC, a search engine optimization and website design firm, had breached a website services contract and falsely inflated sales figures to obtain excessive commissions.  DDDDC vehemently denied any wrongdoing, and Greenberg Freeman sought to establish that WD’s claims were fabricated and being used as an excuse to avoid paying commissions that were due.  When WD refused to turn over documentation relating to its claims or produce its witnesses for depositions, Greenberg Freeman convinced the court to strike WD’s claims in the first action as a sanction for its “willful and contumacious” abuse of the discovery process.

WD responded by commencing a second action in 2009 in the same court based on the same alleged claims asserted in the first action.  Greenberg Freeman successfully moved to dismiss the second action under the doctrine of res judicata, which bars a party from re-litigating issues and claims that had already been dismissed in a prior action.

Undaunted, WD commenced a third action in 2011, this time in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, apparently believing that another judge in another court would take a different view of the case.  Greenberg Freeman again moved to dismiss the action on the grounds of res judicata.  The District Court granted the motion in an opinion by Chief Judge Carol B. Amon, who held that, since the Suffolk County Supreme Court had already determined that WD was barred from pursuing its claims due to its refusal to participate in discovery, the Full Faith and Credit Act requires the District Court to adhere to the prior determination of the state court.  Click here to read the decision. 

DDDDC and its principal were represented in all three actions by Michael Freeman.