White & Case settles with SPAC after derailed $480 mln deal

Industry:    2023-03-29

Law firm White & Case has quickly ended a lawsuit seeking legal fees from a special purpose acquisition company whose plans for a $480 million merger fizzled.

White & Case, which last week sued former SPAC client Colonnade Acquisition Corp II and its directors in New York state court for more than $8.2 million, said in a Friday filing the parties “have amicably resolved their disputes.”

The claims are “voluntarily discontinued with prejudice and without costs to either party against the other,” White & Case said in the filing.

Further details of the resolution were not disclosed. Spokespeople for White & Case and Colonnade did not immediately comment on Tuesday.

New York-founded White & Case claimed in the lawsuit Colonnade owed the firm about $8,289,100 for legal work it performed from November 2020 until this month. The firm cited two engagement letters with Colonnade that described White & Case’s rates and scope of the work.

West Palm Beach, Florida-based Colonnade raised money in an IPO and started trading on the New York Stock Exchange in March 2021. Payments provider Plastiq in August 2022 said it would go public through a merger with the firm, creating a company with a value of about $480 million.

The SPAC did not complete an initial combination by its March 12, 2023 deadline, and on March 9 issued a press release that it will cease operations, redeem the public shares and dissolve.

White & Case had argued the firm will be “irreparably harmed” if the blank-check company liquidates and dissolves before paying the fees it owes.

The SPAC said in response to the law firm’s payment requests that it did not owe the firm any money for the three years of work because it did not complete a business transaction, according to the complaint.

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