Louis Angelos can keep control of father’s law firm for now, judge rules

By: Madeleine O'Neill

Peter G. Angelos, center, owner of the Baltimore Orioles, sits in the owners’ box at Fort Lauderdale Stadium in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, with his son Louis, and wife, Georgia, during his team’s spring training baseball game against the Boston Red Sox on March 18, 2007. (AP Photo/James A. Finley)

Louis Angelos will temporarily maintain control of his father’s storied law firm, a Baltimore County judge decided Thursday, ruling against the other members of the Angelos family who sought to strip Louis of his management authority.

The ruling will only remain in effect for a few weeks, however. Baltimore County Circuit Judge Keith R. Truffer on Thursday declined to appoint a conservator to run the Law Offices of Peter G. Angelos PC, effectively leaving Louis Angelos in control until a more substantive court hearing to determine the firm’s ownership takes place on Nov. 9.

Thursday’s hearing dealt with a request from Georgia Angelos, the wife of Peter Angelos, to take emergency control of the law firm. The couple’s son Louis has been running the firm since 2018, when 93-year-old Peter Angelos fell ill and became incapacitated.

Georgia Angelos sought to take over the firm’s bank accounts last month after Wells Fargo threatened to freeze the accounts because it was unclear who was in charge. Louis Angelos had been improperly issuing checks with Peter Angelos’s signature, her lawyers claimed, placing the firm in jeopardy. Georgia Angelos’ lawyers asked Truffer to appoint a conservator to run the firm and a signatory who was not Louis Angelos.

Truffer did not name a conservator and named three signatories who will have the authority to sign checks for the firm. Though the names of the signatories were not disclosed in court, Truffer proposed making Louis Angelos one of them in order to keep the firm running as it has been for the past four years.

“To some degree, I’m punting a little bit,” Truffer said.

The judge on Thursday also appointed Benjamin Rosenberg to serve as Peter Angelos’ lawyer during the proceedings.

Truffer’s short-term decision on the law firm’s management allows time for Maryland Bar Counsel to potentially take action. When a lawyer becomes incapacitated, bar counsel can petition to appoint a conservator to handle client matters.

It is not clear whether bar counsel will ask a conservator to take over the Angelos firm. Bar Counsel Lydia E. Lawless could not be reached for comment Thursday morning.

The Angelos firm was built on decades of asbestos-related litigation, but its future came into doubt when Peter Angelos lost the ability to manage his business interests, including his majority stake in the Baltimore Orioles.

Louis Angelos, who is a lawyer, has argued in court filings that his father intended for him to take over the firm and that his mother and brother, John Angelos, have no authority to run the firm because they are not lawyers. Louis Angelos also claims to have sold himself the firm, at a price to be determined later, through a promissory note.

Georgia and John Angelos, who together have sided against Louis, dispute Louis’ ownership of the firm and claim that Peter Angelos wanted the firm to be shut down.

Georgia and John Angelos have asked Truffer to invalidate Louis’ sale of the firm to himself. That issue will be among those considered at the Nov. 9 hearing.

The contentious family dispute first came into public view this summer, when Louis Angelos filed a lawsuit against his brother alleging that John had manipulated their mother and was exerting unilateral control over the Orioles and the family’s other business interests, including the law firm.

Louis Angelos claimed in court papers that his brother intended to dismantle the law firm, in part because he was concerned about liability arising from a pending malpractice lawsuit in Baltimore City Circuit Court.

Jeffrey Nusinov, the lawyer for Louis Angelos, declined to comment on Thursday’s hearing. Former Maryland Attorney General Doug Gansler, who is representing Georgia Angelos, also declined to comment.

Full Article & Source:
Louis Angelos can keep control of father’s law firm for now, judge rules