While working at Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe, Patrick Hoeffner was offered a position with a smaller, competing firm, but was supposedly induced to stay by a promise he would soon make partner.
When he was later terminated, both the New York County Supreme Court and the Appellate Division, First Department, rebuffed his punitive damage claim, since that theory couldn't be based on "ordinary fraud and deceit."
While it also rejected Hoeffner's "conspiracy" claim, the AD1 acknowledged that the guy was entitled to recover whatever monies were lost when he rejected the new employment offer. (He couldn't recover for future earnings because that component of his claim was seen as "speculative.")
Was there no equity there?
To view a copy of the Appellate Division's decision, please use this link: Hoeffner v. Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe