A bruising legal standoff over attorney fees tied to Columbia University’s massive sex abuse settlements has ended not with a bang but a quiet retreat.
New York’s Wigdor law firm and plaintiffs’ lawyer Anthony DiPietro agreed to permanently halt their court battle, which had been simmering since last year. Court papers filed earlier this month show both sides walked away without disclosing whether money changed hands.
The clash had its roots in a $165 million settlement struck in 2022 with Columbia University Irving Medical Center and NewYork-Presbyterian, after women alleged the institutions concealed the misconduct of disgraced gynecologist Robert Hadden. DiPietro, who has represented hundreds of Hadden’s victims since 2012, claimed Wigdor lured away one of his clients, “Jane Doe #2,” and then profited off negotiations he had already advanced.
Wigdor rejected the accusations and fired back with counterclaims, accusing DiPietro of putting his financial interests ahead of his client’s best options. The dispute spiraled into a tense lawyer-on-lawyer showdown, with each side questioning the other’s ethics.
Meanwhile, Hadden’s victims have already secured over a billion dollars in settlements across multiple cases, including a record-breaking $750 million agreement reached in May. Hadden himself is serving a 20-year federal sentence.
Now, with the fee fight officially dropped, the lawyers return to their corners—leaving unresolved questions about how much of Columbia’s payout ended up in their pockets.
