Suit against Clinton pollster dropped
By SARA KUGLER, Associated Press WriterWed Jul 18, 7:20 PM ET
A lawsuit accusing Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's chief strategist of illegally intercepting e-mails has been withdrawn and the legal battle between him and former associates has been resolved, the parties said Wednesday.
Penn, Schoen & Berland said former vice president Mitchell E. Markel dropped his suit against the firm and its founder, Mark Penn, who is strategist and pollster to the Democratic presidential candidate. A separate suit that the firm had filed a week earlier against Markel and Michael J. Berland, another associate who once polled for New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, was also dismissed and a settlement was reached.
Markel had claimed in his e-mail wiretapping suit that the firm was illegally monitoring messages sent from his personal Blackberry after he left and started a rival company. Penn, Schoen & Berland did not dispute that e-mails were intercepted but said it owned the e-mails because they were still routed through the company's account.
In dropping the suit, Markel agreed that Penn, Schoen & Berland had a right to read the e-mails and withdrew his claim that the firm acted improperly, according to a statement attributed to all parties that came from firm spokesman Jason Schechter.
Both Berland's lawyer and Markel confirmed the statement was accurate and that the legal dispute had been put to rest.
Penn, Schoen & Berland is a top polling outfit that has helped elect clients including former President Clinton and Bloomberg. In addition to crafting political strategy, the company provides advice on brand building and corporate messaging for clients like Microsoft and Time Warner.
Markel's e-mail suit in state Supreme Court in Manhattan came a week after Penn, Schoen & Berland had already sued him a week earlier in the same court.
In that suit, the firm accused Markel and Berland of breach of contract because it said Berland was helping Markel's new company steal away some of Penn, Schoen & Berland's clients. Those were corporate clients, like the National Hockey League, Estee Lauder and Quest, not political candidates.
Markel, Berland and other employees of Penn, Schoen & Berland were under agreements that prohibited them from competing with the firm or soliciting and servicing its clients for a certain period of time if they were to leave the company.
Berland left Penn, Schoen & Berland in December, and Markel left this year to run his new company called Global Insights & Strategies LLC.
Under the settlement described Wednesday, both Berland and Markel agreed to honor their non-competition agreements and to make payments to Penn, Schoen of undisclosed amounts.
"I regret this incident and am happy to move forward," Berland said in the statement.
What will be interesting to political observers is that the end dates of Berland and Markel's non-competition agreements have been extended as part of the settlement. Markel's original date was one year after his employment ended, which was April 2007, and Berland's had two parts — he was prohibited from doing any work in the industry until the end of 2007, and then for another year could not solicit any client of Penn, Schoen & Berland.
The new end dates and terms were not disclosed, but they could mean that Berland might now be prohibited from polling next year for Bloomberg, who was his client in 2001 and 2005 when the billionaire ran for mayor and was re-elected.
Bloomberg says he has no plans to run for president next year, although he is considered a potential candidate as an independent.
Associates say he can wait until next year to decide, after the two major parties have clear front-runners. One of those could be Penn's client, Clinton.
