Law firm Morgan & Morgan sues rival in turf battle over Google ads
By David Thomas
Sept 20 (Reuters) -Plaintiffs' law giant Morgan & Morgan has rekindled an internet advertising fight with another Florida-based law firm, claiming it violated an agreement not to lure customers with misleading Google search results.
Morgan & Morgan, which bills itself as the largest U.S. injury law firm, sued 30-lawyer Morgan Law Group (MLG) on Thursday in state court in Orlando. The lawsuit said MLG paid Google this year so that its name appears at the top of search results for "morgan and morgan."
MLG's bidding on those Google advertising terms violates a settlement agreement the two firms reached in October 2020, the lawsuit said. Morgan & Morgan said it sued MLG in 2017 over its allegedly deceptive advertising practices.
"Regrettably, this is not the first time that the MLG defendants have engaged in misleading and deceptive advertising practices designed to misappropriate current and potential clients of Morgan & Morgan," the lawsuit said.
A spokesperson for Morgan & Morgan did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Thomas J. Morgan, Jr., the founding partner of MLG who was also named as a defendant in the lawsuit, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Morgan & Morgan alleges that the firms' settlement prohibits MLG from using a variety of advertising words and keywords on Google and other search engines.
Morgan & Morgan spent nearly $240 million in TV ads in 2023, and $40.3 million in digital ads that year, according to a February report from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Institute for Legal Reform that cited data from advertisement analytics firms Tunnl and Sensor Tower.
Last August, Morgan & Morgan sued a New Jersey marketing company for allegedly paying Google for "click to call" advertisements on searches for the terms "morgan and morgan." When the ads popped up, potential Morgan & Morgan clients were tricked into clicking on a phone number that took them to the marketing firm instead, the lawsuit claimed.
The case was dismissed in July, Florida state court records show.
Morgan & Morgan is seeking an unspecified amount of damages in its new case against MLG. The firm also said in its lawsuit that the settlement agreement contains a fee-shifting provision.
The case is Morgan & Morgan, P.A., v. The Morgan Law Group, P.A., Circuit Court of the Ninth Judicial Circuit In and For Orange County, Florida, Case No. Unknown
For Morgan & Morgan: Damien Prosser, of Morgan & Morgan
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