Morgan & Morgan has reignited an internet advertising dispute with another Florida-based law firm, accusing it of violating an agreement to avoid misleading customers through Google search results. Billing itself as the largest U.S. injury law firm, Morgan & Morgan filed a lawsuit against the 30-lawyer Morgan Law Group (MLG) on Thursday in an Orlando state court. The lawsuit claims MLG paid Google this year to position its name at the top of search results for “Morgan and Morgan.”
MLG’s use of these Google advertising terms breaches a settlement agreement that the two firms reached in October 2020, according to the lawsuit. Morgan & Morgan initially sued MLG in 2017, alleging deceptive advertising practices.
“This is not the first time that the MLG defendants have engaged in misleading and deceptive advertising designed to misappropriate current and potential clients of Morgan & Morgan,” the lawsuit states.
Neither Morgan & Morgan nor Thomas J. Morgan, Jr., the founding partner of MLG and a named defendant in the lawsuit, immediately responded to requests for comment.
Morgan & Morgan claims that the settlement bars MLG from using specific advertising words and keywords on Google and other search engines. In 2023, Morgan & Morgan spent nearly $240 million on TV ads and $40.3 million on digital ads, according to a February report from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Institute for Legal Reform, which cited data from advertising analytics firms Tunnl and Sensor Tower.
In August of last year, Morgan & Morgan sued a New Jersey marketing company, alleging that it paid Google for “click-to-call” ads in searches for “Morgan and Morgan.” The lawsuit claimed these ads deceived potential clients into calling a number that redirected them to the marketing firm instead. The case was dismissed in July, as shown by Florida state court records.
Morgan & Morgan now seeks unspecified damages in its new case against MLG. The firm also points to a fee-shifting provision in the settlement agreement.
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. Representing Morgan & Morgan is Damien Prosser, of Morgan & Morgan.
