Opinion ID: 1189498
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Dye's Representation of Meister

Text: In 1995, while Meister was employed as the controller of AFI, he hired Dye to represent him in a personal bankruptcy case. After that, Meister and Dye occasionally saw each other at social events but were not close friends. Dep. of Dye 89, Feb. 11, 2005. When Eisenberg formed AFI Holding, Meister was named its chief financial officer, secretary, and director, but he was never an investor, creditor or equity share-holder in any AFI Entity. During Meister's employment with AFI, his domestic partner, Eriksen, invested money in an AFI entity. Between 1996 and 1997, Meister became aware of fraudulent activities by Cohen and the complicity of Eisenberg. Specifically, he realized that his financial statements were inaccurate because they were based on forged documents, that money was being embezzled by Cohen, that Cohen was directing him to prepare false reports under threat of loss of his job, and that Eisenberg was requiring him to participate in new investment activities-new money to pay repay the old money. Dep. of Meister 56, Feb. 24, 2005. Eisenberg, on the other hand, believed that Meister was intentionally engaged in corporate misconduct. See Dep. of Eisenberg 24, Feb. 15, 2005. In a 1998 state court action against it, AFI filed a cross-complaint against Meister, which was subsequently dismissed. See Decl. of Loeb ¶ 3-4, Apr. 14, 2005. Meister testified that his next communication with Dye, following his bankruptcy case, was in 1997 when he sought her advice concerning his decision to resign from AFI However, he rescinded that testimony in a declaration dated April 13, 2005, in which he averred that his discussion with Dye had actually taken place in 1999, and concerned a termination notice which he had received from his subsequent employer, Tri-Capital Finance Corp. (Tri-Capital). [2] Meister resigned from AFI in June, 1997, but remained in a consulting role for another month. In mid-1998, Meister referred Eriksen to Dye to represent him in seeking a withdrawal of his investment monies from AFI. Both Meister and Dye testified that they did not speak to each other about either Ericksen's legal matters or AFI. Then, in September, 1999, Meister sought Dye's legal advice regarding the Tri-Capital termination notice. Dye testified that she looked [the notice] over only briefly, found it unremarkable, and had no other involvement with Meister. Decl. of Dye 27, ¶ 9, Apr. 13, 2005.