In a case that pits two of the city’s best-known personal injury firms against each other, Frank Azar & Associates is accusing Bachus & Schanker of stealing prospective clients.
Azar, known for his ubiquitous billboards, is suing Bachus & Schanker, whose partners’ faces don the side of downtown buses, in Denver District Court. Azar won a $1.5 million settlement in a similar case last December and filed a nearly identical lawsuit in late March.
Azar’s dispute with Bachus & Schanker centers around Google keyword ads, which appear when a person searches for a certain word or phrase. Both law firms use the ads but Azar claims that its rival’s tactics are beyond the pale and confusing to car crash victims.
“A consumer who searches for ‘azar and associates’ will be shown an ad titled ‘Frank Azar,’” Azar’s lawsuit states. “A consumer who clicks on the title or the Contact Us link will be brought not to the Azar firm’s website, but instead to Bachus and Schanker’s website.”
“The obvious intent of Bachus & Schanker’s ads is to confuse consumers who use Google to search for the Azar firm’s contact information,” according to Azar & Associates.
Kyle Bachus and Darin Schanker did not answer BusinessDen’s request for comment.
Azar & Associates estimates that at least “dozens, if not hundreds or thousands,” of potential clients have been diverted away from the firm as a result of the Google ads. It alleges violations of the Colorado Deceptive Trade Practices Act and trademark infringement.
“Unauthorized use of the Azar trademarks enables (Bachus & Schanker) to trade on, and receive the benefit of, the extensive goodwill associated with the Azar firm and all of the time and money the Azar firm spent to create such goodwill over the last three decades.”
Azar is now litigating two similar cases against competitors. Dominic Genco, a former Azar attorney who leads Genco Injury Attorneys, has denied running deceptive ads, infringing on trademarks, or trading in on Azar’s name. He says no clients have been confused.
“The claims for relief are substantially groundless, substantially frivolous or substantially vexatious,” Genco’s lawyer, Carl Hjort, wrote about Azar’s lawsuit last month.
Azar’s lawyers in both cases are Tamir Goldstein, Michael Kosma and Morgan Steele with Taft Stettinius & Hollister, plus Meghan Martinez and Sarah Nolan at Martinez Law Group.
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