'LA Law' actor subpoenas New York personal injury firm

Corbin Bernsen played divorce lawyer Arnie Becker in the 1980s show L.A. Law. A full 15 years after the show's last episode, a Virginia-based company that provides marketing services for law firms hired him as a spokesman. According to Bernsen, he agreed to a five-year deal in 2009 with Innovative Legal Marketing and was promised $1 million.

Last summer, Innovative ditched Bersen, saying the ad campaign was a failure, except here in New York, where Arnie Becker is, apparently, still a thing.

Bersen filed a breach-of-contract lawsuit in October; Innovative countersued in November, alleging that Bernsen embarrassed the company and its clients, all personal injury firms, by disparaging lawyers in a TV sketch, among other things.

Now, Bernsen is asking a federal judge in New York to enforce a subpoena against personal injury firm Parker Waichman Alonso LLP (now Parker & Waichman), which featured Bersen in television, billboard and phone book ads.

According to Bernsen, New York-based Parker & Waichman was instrumental in spiking the sponsorship agreement. The motion says Jerrold Parker, the firm's senior partner, "owns or controls" the Bernsen ad campaign. The subpoena seeks documents related to the firm's use of Bernsen ads, its relationship to Innovative and the decision to terminate the agreement. The motion was filed last week in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Bernsen's lawsuit seeks $668,000. Innovative says Bernsen owes it $600,000. Neither party immediately responded to Law Blog's request for comment. Jerrold Parker declined to comment.

(Published by WSJ - April 3, 2012)