In Brief, It’s Jacoby vs. Meyers on Docket

It had to happen sometime: Jacoby is suing Meyers.

They teamed up nearly 20 years ago to hang out a TV shingle that made them the K mart of American law. But that’s in jeopardy now. Leonard Jacoby has filed suit against Stephen Meyers, accusing Meyers of trying to squeeze him out.

And there’s nothing cut-rate about the money Jacoby is asking for.

He is demanding $2 million from his law school buddy and 23-year business partner, accusing him of breach of partnership, fraud and emotional distress.

Also named is Gail Koff, who started Jacoby & Meyers’ East Coast operation in 1979 and can be seen on late-night TV, holding a hair dryer and warning viewers to beware of consumer injury and fraud.

Was a storefront law firm good enough for the man who helped make lawsuits the American way?

Apparently not. Jacoby has retained Quinn, Kully & Morrow, a well respected downtown firm with offices next to the plush Biltmore Hotel.

How much is Jacoby paying his own lawyer? “We feel our rates are competitive,” was all Michael Walizer would say.

Neither Jacoby nor Meyers returned calls for comment.

Koff and Meyers, Jacoby claims in his lawsuit, shunted him aside as the company downsized and restructured during lean times in the slip-and-fall business.

“Their conduct was intentional and malicious and done for the purpose of causing Jacoby to suffer humiliation, mental anguish and emotional and physical distress,” the lawsuit says.

Jacoby & Meyers revolutionized American law by peddling its services to the middle class. Its first TV commercial, in 1977, hawked “two guys named Jacoby and Meyers” and a free consultation. The cost for a will was $75. Personal bankruptcy filings: $500.

By the 1980s, those names fronted 150 offices in six states--New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Arizona, California and Pennsylvania--and employed 330 lawyers.