Stormy Daniels has sued her old attorney, claiming he secretly colluded with Michael Cohen and Donald Trump.
Judd Legum at ThinkProgress:
In a new lawsuit filed Wednesday in Los Angeles Superior Court, Stormy Daniels, the adult film star who claims to have had an affair with President Donald Trump, has sued her former attorney, Keith Davidson, as well as Michael Cohen, Donald Trump’s longtime attorney and self-styled “fixer.” The suit alleges that Davidson, Cohen, and Trump secretly colluded to undermine Daniels’ interests.
At the center of the case is a series of text messages which show that Davidson, unbeknownst to Daniels, was secretly communicating with Cohen. At the time of these communications, Davidson was serving as Daniels’ personal attorney, which means that he had a fiduciary duty to represent Daniels interests. What Daniels’ new suit alleges — and what these text messages seem to demonstrate — is that Davidson was actually working to advance the interests of Trump, not his client.
Daniels current attorney, Michael Avenatti, was able to obtain the text messages because they are part of her “case file.” The materials and communications that a lawyer generates on behalf of a client belong to the client — if the client switches lawyers, those materials are sent to the new lawyer.