Bloomberg Law
Oct. 19, 2021, 1:33 PM

Match, IAC Tap High-Profile Litigator for $2 Billion Tinder Suit

Chris Opfer
Chris Opfer
Reporter/Editor

IAC/InterActiveCorp. and Match Group Inc. have hired well-known trial lawyer Bill Carmody to defend the companies in a $2 billion lawsuit by Tinder founder Sean Rad set to go to trial in less than three weeks.

Carmody joined the case Oct. 15, according to a filing in the New York Supreme Court. He recently helped WeWork founder Adam Neumann secure a reported $480 million settlement from SoftBank and represented Uber in its court battle with Google-backed autonomous vehicle company Waymo.

Rad and Tinder founders allege IAC and Match Group artificially devalued Tinder before the group could exercise stock options in the online dating platform. They claim the companies provided false information and covered up sexual misconduct accusations against a former Match Group executive as part of the scheme.

Carmody’s addition is a signal that IAC and Match expect the case to go to trial after more than three years. The Susman & Godfrey partner, who declined to comment on his role in the litigation, is often brought in for big ticket trials in the weeks before they begin.

Carmody told Bloomberg Law in July that he prefers to take such cases on a contingency fee basis in which what he takes home depends largely on whether he wins the case. That is a rare arrangement on the defense side, where Carmody said his fees are often a percentage of anything that his clients save compared to the amount being sought by their opponents in court.

The legal team for IAC and Match also includes lawyers from Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz, a major firm that has long had ties to the companies. IAC and Match, which has since been spun out from the conglomerate, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The Tinder founders also have a prominent litigator in their corner: Orin Snyder, who The Verge once called “the deadliest trial lawyer in tech.” Snyder is a Gibson Dunn partner and former prosecutor who has represented Apple, Facebook, and Goldman Sachs, among other notable clients.

The case is Rad v. IAC/InterActiveCorp, N.Y. Sup. Ct., No. 654038/2018.

To contact the reporter on this story: Chris Opfer in New York at copfer@bloomberglaw.com
To contact the editor on this story: John Hughes in Washington at jhughes@bloombergindustry.com