A new update in the saga of George Sink vs. George Sink. For those who haven’t been following along, George Sink is a South Carolina personal injury attorney. George Sink is also a South Carolina personal injury attorney. The problem for the latter George Sink is that he’s the son of the former, and dad fired the son from his firm and then sued to prevent his son from using his own name on his law firm.
This is, of course, all a bit ridiculous and exactly why people hate lawyers, but George the Elder managed to secure a victory in this ongoing battle:
A federal judge on Friday issued a temporary restraining order banning the younger Sink from using the “George Sink” name on his firm’s website, social media accounts and email address. The ban will stay in place until the case is heard by an arbitrator.
A lot of the media reports have characterized this as George the Younger losing the right to use his own name professionally, which it kind of is, but glosses over the fact that this is not a final decision but a TRO issued until the parties complete an arbitration. Blocking Junior’s firm is the best way to maintain the pre-breach status quo.
George the Elder definitely has an interest in keeping a confusing mark out of the market, but the younger Sink needs to be able to practice somehow and in a way that allows clients to look up his credentials. He’s been George Sink for his whole professional life (and, well, his whole actual life, though he goes by Ted socially) and while he’s not been practicing as long, he shouldn’t have to forfeit any goodwill he’s built up. One hopes the arbitrators, with more of a free hand than the courts, can forge the sort of equitable solution that allows both sides to walk away with viable practices.
Because both Sinks have already sunk too much into this.
(Check out the opinion on the next page.)
George Sink Jr. can’t use his own name to market his North Charleston law firm, judge says [Post and Courier]
Earlier: Father Sues Son For Using His Own Name — This Is Why People Hate Lawyers
Joe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.