Traweek

—In the wake of an unsuccessful defense of a civil suit (see Ballou v. Master Properties No. 6 (1987) 189 Cal.App.3d 65 [ 234 Cal.Rptr. 264 ]) and other matters, plaintiff Richard W. Traweek and related entities (collectively Traweek) filed two malpractice lawsuits against his former attorneys and accountants. In the first (the Jacke matter), Traweek sued the law firm of Finley, Kumble, Wagner, Heine, Underberg, Manley, Myerson & Casey (Finley Kumble), Richard Williams (a Finley Kumble partner) and H. Clay Jacke, an attorney “associated as counsel” for Traweek with Finley Kumble and Williams in the Ballou action. In the second lawsuit (the Manatt matter) filed almost one year later, Traweek sued the law firm of Manatt, Phelps, Rothenberg & Phillips (Manatt Phelps), the accounting firm of Kenneth Leventhal & Company (Leventhal), and more than one hundred individuals who were former partners of Finley Kumble.

Approximately three weeks after the Manatt action was filed, Finley Kumble commenced chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings in New York. By virtue of a temporary restraining order and later a preliminary injunction obtained by the bankruptcy trustee, the automatic stay was…