Jean Paul Jamarne“The way that defendants advertised leaves little doubt as to their bad-faith intent to trade on our goodwill and reputation,” claims a federal lawsuit by James Bergener, also known as “Sweet” James Bergener.
Prominent personal injury lawyer “Sweet” James Bergener has a message for competitors: You will see the opposite of “Sweet” if you mess with our trademark.
In a federal lawsuit filed in the Central District of California, James Bergener, the attorney who has for years billed himself as “Sweet James” and operates a law firm under the same trade name Sweet James LLP, alleges that a competing Los Angeles based personal injury law firm, Lalezary Law Firm LLP, and partners Shawn Lalezary and Shervin Lalezary have infringed on the Sweet James trademarks by using them in Google keyword search advertisements and has purposefully caused confusion to siphon potential clients seeking to retain Bergener.
“Sweet” James Bergener, co-founding partner of Sweet James LLP, a prominent personally injury law firm headquartered in Newport Beach, California.
Using those keywords allows the defendants’ ads to pop up whenever potential clients search for Sweet James, James Bergener and other related keywords on their electronic devices. According to the lawsuit Bergener filed, bidding on those terms causes “the public to believe that when Defendants’ advertisements appear, Defendants and Plaintiff are one in the same.” Upon searching online to contact the Sweet James firm, unsuspecting clients on mobile devices see “click to call” ads, making their phones automatically ring the defendants, rather than the Sweet James firm.
“Many aggressive lawyers act like it’s the wild west with online advertising,” said Bergener’s Newport Beach attorney, Gerald Klein of Klein & Wilson. “Our complaint seeks to prevent the abuse of our client’s trademark rights and stop this unethical advertising by competitors who seek to cash in on the notoriety of ‘Sweet James’ and deceive clients into believing the law firm they mistakenly called is affiliated with Sweet James.”
Sweet James marketing has created a cult following in the markets they serve.
From TV Commercials featuring actor and eternal bad boy Danny Trejo, to hundreds of billboards and weekly “Justice with Sweet James” segments on top radio stations throughout California and Arizona, co-founder and partner Steve Mehr said, “We invest tens of millions of dollars on branding the Sweet James trade name which includes brand partnerships with the NBA’s Los Angeles Clippers and other professional sports teams. We have created one of the most recognizable trademarks in the legal industry and we will spend whatever is necessary to protect it.”
Mehr claims the lawsuit isn’t about legitimate comparative advertising. “Defendants have bid increasingly higher amounts on our names to strategically place their own confusing ads next to – and often above – our own trade name ads in search results. Bidding is done intentionally, knowing that having their ads appear next to or above our ads will cause a significant number of consumers searching for Sweet James to be confused and contact defendants instead.” Moreover, what happened in this case was the defendants intentionally led prospective clients to believe they were affiliated with Sweet James.
Bergener and Mehr have built a widely recognized brand in California and surrounding states. For over 10 years Bergener has been known as attorney “Sweet James,” a name that Petros Papadakis (a television and sports radio personality) coined based on Bergeners’ always calming and sweet presence on his radio show. When Bergener teamed up with Mehr, the former managing partner of consumer behemoth Jacoby & Meyers Lawyers, they decided to create a new law firm under the Sweet James trade name focused on helping injury and accident victims with a much more personal touch.
Commenting on the suit, Bergener said, “We spend more than $10,000,000 annually on TV, radio, billboards and digital advertising. Our branding efforts reach tens of millions of injured victims and their families and allow us to help thousands of people every year. Sweet James does not – and will not – tolerate trade name infringement, fraud, deception, or other activities that unlawfully exploit the demand that potential clients have for our services.” At a time when law firms are under pressure to generate new clients, Sweet James has taken the right approach to combat infringers and bad actors trying to take advantage of the goodwill the firm has taken years to earn.
Jean Paul Jamarne is a lawyer and former prosecutor with City Attorneys Office of Los Angeles and a former prosecutor of the State Bar of California which is tasked with regulating the professional conduct of attorneys. Jean Paul currently serves as a senior attorney with Sweet James LLP specializing in helping victims of serious personal injuries and wrongful death claims against negligent defendants.
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