Novitas Communications has its offices at 1732 Wazee St. in LoDo. (Facebook)
Six weeks before Denver jurors were to sort out a squabble between two prominent public relations firms in the city, one firm decided to pay $140,000 to the other instead.
Aiello PR & Marketing agreed last week to send the money to Novitas Communications, ending the need for a five-day jury trial that was scheduled to start Dec. 11.
“The cost of defending against that kind of case being waged by Novitas and its big law firm, Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, was unmanageable,” said attorney Mark Saliman of Denver, who represented Aiello PR in the matter. “Faced with crippling costs to defend itself, Aiello Public Relations was forced to elect for a procedural resolution in this case.”
Saliman said his client continues to deny doing anything wrong in its dealings with Novitas.
“While entry of a judgment is regrettable, the financial burden to defend against large law firm litigation tactics, regardless of the merits of the case, can prove fatal to a small business.”
Novitas sued Aiello PR at the end of last year, accusing the 23-year-old firm led by Wendy Aiello of reneging on a 2020 agreement to close up shop and sell its clients to Novitas for $180,000. Aiello PR had some top clients in the city, such as Union Station and Oakwood Homes.
Michelle Lyng is the founder of Novitas Communications. (Novitas Communications)
Novitas also accused Aiello PR of not paying it during a 17-month transition period in which Novitas was doing work for Aiello clients. Novitas’ lawsuit sought $330,000.
“While we are gratified to have won the case, we always believed the facts were on our side,” Novitas CEO Michelle Lyng said last week. “It’s pretty simple — we worked thousands of hours to fuel the success of Aiello PR clients and Aiello PR was paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for our work.” She later added, “Candidly, I believe Aiello PR engaged in theft.
“This settlement shows that Aiello PR knows it was in the wrong. It doesn’t make us whole for the investment we made in Aiello PR clients, but it’s a start.
In February, Aiello PR countersued Novitas. Aiello PR said that it never agreed to sell to Novitas but did agree, verbally, to work on client matters jointly, until it realized that Novitas was bad at PR work, was not paying Aiello PR its fees, and had stolen a client: Oakwood.
A jury of six Denverites was to untangle the tiff and award money to one side or the other. Then, in early October, the two firms met with an arbitrator and discussed a settlement.
Wendy Aiello is a longtime public relations professional in Denver. (Aiello PR and Marketing)
“Aiello PR advised Novitas that it believes the claims against it are defensible and its claims against Novitas have value, but if a settlement could not be reached, Aiello PR would be forced to file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy before trial,” Saliman wrote to a judge Oct. 17.
Settlement talks fell through initially and Aiello PR hired a bankruptcy lawyer with plans to file for Chapter 7. A bankruptcy would have stayed the case and canceled the upcoming trial.
Then, on Oct. 24, Aiello PR accepted Novitas’ offer of a $140,000 settlement and both sides dropped their claims. District Court Judge Eric Elliff closed the case on Oct. 26.
Novitas was represented by Christopher Murray and Sean Cuff of Brownstein.
“Our lawyers still have several avenues available to them to recover the additional debt owed to Novitas,” Lyng said on Friday, “and will pursue any and all of them.”
Novitas Communications has its offices at 1732 Wazee St. in LoDo. (Facebook)
Six weeks before Denver jurors were to sort out a squabble between two prominent public relations firms in the city, one firm decided to pay $140,000 to the other instead.
Aiello PR & Marketing agreed last week to send the money to Novitas Communications, ending the need for a five-day jury trial that was scheduled to start Dec. 11.
“The cost of defending against that kind of case being waged by Novitas and its big law firm, Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, was unmanageable,” said attorney Mark Saliman of Denver, who represented Aiello PR in the matter. “Faced with crippling costs to defend itself, Aiello Public Relations was forced to elect for a procedural resolution in this case.”
Saliman said his client continues to deny doing anything wrong in its dealings with Novitas.
“While entry of a judgment is regrettable, the financial burden to defend against large law firm litigation tactics, regardless of the merits of the case, can prove fatal to a small business.”
Novitas sued Aiello PR at the end of last year, accusing the 23-year-old firm led by Wendy Aiello of reneging on a 2020 agreement to close up shop and sell its clients to Novitas for $180,000. Aiello PR had some top clients in the city, such as Union Station and Oakwood Homes.
Michelle Lyng is the founder of Novitas Communications. (Novitas Communications)
Novitas also accused Aiello PR of not paying it during a 17-month transition period in which Novitas was doing work for Aiello clients. Novitas’ lawsuit sought $330,000.
“While we are gratified to have won the case, we always believed the facts were on our side,” Novitas CEO Michelle Lyng said last week. “It’s pretty simple — we worked thousands of hours to fuel the success of Aiello PR clients and Aiello PR was paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for our work.” She later added, “Candidly, I believe Aiello PR engaged in theft.
“This settlement shows that Aiello PR knows it was in the wrong. It doesn’t make us whole for the investment we made in Aiello PR clients, but it’s a start.
In February, Aiello PR countersued Novitas. Aiello PR said that it never agreed to sell to Novitas but did agree, verbally, to work on client matters jointly, until it realized that Novitas was bad at PR work, was not paying Aiello PR its fees, and had stolen a client: Oakwood.
A jury of six Denverites was to untangle the tiff and award money to one side or the other. Then, in early October, the two firms met with an arbitrator and discussed a settlement.
Wendy Aiello is a longtime public relations professional in Denver. (Aiello PR and Marketing)
“Aiello PR advised Novitas that it believes the claims against it are defensible and its claims against Novitas have value, but if a settlement could not be reached, Aiello PR would be forced to file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy before trial,” Saliman wrote to a judge Oct. 17.
Settlement talks fell through initially and Aiello PR hired a bankruptcy lawyer with plans to file for Chapter 7. A bankruptcy would have stayed the case and canceled the upcoming trial.
Then, on Oct. 24, Aiello PR accepted Novitas’ offer of a $140,000 settlement and both sides dropped their claims. District Court Judge Eric Elliff closed the case on Oct. 26.
Novitas was represented by Christopher Murray and Sean Cuff of Brownstein.
“Our lawyers still have several avenues available to them to recover the additional debt owed to Novitas,” Lyng said on Friday, “and will pursue any and all of them.”
