It looks like Eliot Spitzer and Adam Leitman Bailey won’t be squaring off in court after all.
Both Bailey and a legal team at Boies, Schiller, Flexner were hired by a co-op board on the Upper East Side seeking to thwart Spitzer’s plan to develop a condo building next door, but now, according to people familiar with the matter, a rift has emerged.
The two sides can’t see eye-to-eye and Bailey — known for his aggressive tactics — may soon be off the case, these people said.
Bailey and Spitzer declined to comment, while a representative for Boies, Schiller did not immediately respond to a request.
The Schiller team does appear to be taking the helm in the litigation.
Last week named partner Jonathan Schiller filed to withdraw a request Bailey had made in February for a protective order against Spitzer, whom he accused of intimidating his star witness.
Schiller’s motion said the parties would speak to each other through their attorneys instead of directly with one another, and appeared to turn down the heat on critical comments between the sides.
“Counsel will speak with each other regarding receipt of any such critical communications and seek to resolve any such critical communications respectfully,” read the filing.
Bailey and Boies Schiller had been hired by the co-op board at 980 Fifth Avenue, which is arguing that it legally controls a small sliver of property between its building and the property owned next door by Spitzer at 985 Fifth Avenue.
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The legal dispute is hampering Spitzer’s plan to tear down his building and develop a 19-story condo building in its place.
Things got personal when Bailey filed for a protection order against Spitzer. He claimed the developer intimidated his star witness, the co-op board’s superintendent, in a heated phone call. Spitzer responded saying he was simply telling the super to stay off his property.
Spitzer in a later filing accused Bailey’s law firm of being a “perjury factory” and asked the court to discipline him.