ST. LOUIS — One of Jerry Schlichter’s former law partners, Roger Denton, has dropped a lawsuit and retracted his statements that accused the nationally prominent attorney and leading Ƶ civic booster of withholding hundreds of thousands of dollars in law firm fees Denton said he was due.
In a Thursday order from Ƶ Circuit Judge Joseph Whyte, Denton now says he was fully compensated while he was a partner at Schlichter, Bogard and Denton and that he was provided enough information to determine his fees were calculated in accordance with the firm’s partnership agreements.
The order also specifies that Denton “acknowledges that after discovery, there is no evidence of fraud, misrepresentation, manipulation, breach of contract, fiduciary, partnership and other duties and he retracts all such other allegations that were made or which may have been implied” from his October 2022 lawsuit against Schlichter and the firm.
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Denton also says he was not paid any “money” in exchange for the retraction and dismissal, according to the order.
It’s a vindication for Schlichter, a major funder of Ƶ entrepreneurship and immigration initiatives who maintained all along that Denton’s lawsuit had no merit. He and his lawyers argued the lawsuit was filed so Denton could gain leverage in the business dispute by threatening to release sensitive documents from the firm’s enormous 401(k) class action lawsuits — cases challenging opaque fund manager fees that have built the firm a national reputation and spurred retirement account reforms.
“He’s retracted his allegations and acknowledges he was paid nothing for his retractions and the dismissal of this case,” Schlichter said Thursday.
During a December 2022 hearing, Jack Garvey, a lawyer for Schlichter, alleged that Denton actually owed the firm $300,000. Schlichter wouldn’t say if that played into the settlement.
An attorney for Denton, Traci Pupillo of Capes Sokol, did not respond to a request for comment.
Schlichter’s firm is now known as simply Schlichter Bogard, and Denton is no longer a partner, Schlichter said. Schlichter had alleged the lawsuit was filed despite an arbitration agreement, and the two sides have been in arbitration over the matter since April, when a judge granted Schlichter and his firm’s request to compel arbitration.
In 2022, days after Denton filed the lawsuit accusing the firm of manipulating how it calculated his cut of case fees, Ƶ Circuit Court Judge Jason Sengheiser sealed the case from public view.
Schlichter and his partners have built a practice out of lawsuits challenging opaque fees across millions of Americans’ retirement accounts, winning cases before the U.S. Supreme Court and obtaining judgments and settlements worth over $500 million. Schlichter’s attorneys argued Denton’s litigation would release sensitive information from their high-profile retirement account class-action lawsuits, where some of the country’s most powerful defense firms look for any advantage in the multimillion dollar cases.
But Denton’s attorneys said those class-action lawsuits were also public, and sealing Denton’s lawsuit went against the “presumption of openness” in Missouri courts.