September 17, 2024
Mlazgar’s Lawsuits Against Leading Lighting Brands Move Forward
Ongoing legal battles focus on commission disputes and alleged contract breaches with Focal Point and Current
Civil lawsuits often proceed slowly. With two ongoing cases involving prominent lighting manufacturers, Minnesota-based lighting agent Mlazgar Associates is embroiled in legal disputes over commission payments and contractual breaches. Once representing Focal Point and Hubbell Lighting, Mlazgar now represents Cooper Lighting Solutions but continues to seek redress for alleged wrongful actions by its former partners.
In Mlazgar’s case filed in April 2022, the lighting agency accuses Focal Point and its parent company Legrand of unlawfully terminating Mlazgar’s contract, withholding commissions, and steering business to a competing agent. The second case, initiated in January 2023, targets Current and Progress Lighting, where a judge recently ruled in Mlazgar’s favor on a motion to compel discovery, setting the stage for additional legal battles in the coming months.
Mlazgar vs. Focal Point & Legrand
Mlazgar accuses Focal Point of unlawful termination, withholding commissions, and diverting sales to JTH Lighting Alliance, a competing agent. The lawsuit claims Focal Point instructed customers to bypass Mlazgar and place orders through JTH Lighting Alliance, which allegedly received commissions on those sales while Mlazgar was still representing Focal Point products. Additionally, Mlazgar asserts that Focal Point failed to process its submitted sales orders, further undermining their business relationship.
Lawsuit filings indicate that Focal Point felt it had properly terminated Mlazgar and moved representation to JTH. Mlazgar claims Focal Point's termination was improper and that Mlazgar maintained its exclusive rights to the brand throughout the defined territory.
Depositions involving present and former employees of Focal Point, Legrand, and JTH Lighting are ongoing throughout September and October 2024, as discovery progresses. The case timeline includes several key deadlines:
- September 19, 2024: Status conference to update the court on case progress.
- December 8, 2024: Deadline for expert discovery submissions.
- January 9, 2025: Deadline for filing dispositive motions.
- May 9, 2025: Case must be ready for trial by this date.
Mlazgar vs. Current (HLI Solutions) and Progress Lighting
Meanwhile, in Mlazgar's lawsuit against Current and Current's former sister brand, Progress Lighting, the lighting agent asked the court for help in getting cooperation from Current with discovery. The judge recently granted in part Mlazgar’s motion to compel discovery. Despite Current’s claims of providing over 102,000 pages of documentation, the court ordered Current to provide complete responses to several interrogatories and document requests by September 13, rejecting Current’s reliance on vague, boilerplate objections. Additionally, the court deemed Current's objections insufficient and awarded Mlazgar attorneys' fees.
Above: Current attorneys defend their cooperation with Mlazgar documentation requests
Although the court denied Mlazgar's request to inspect the electronic devices of seven Current employees, it allowed for the possibility to revisit this issue if discovery responses continue to be incomplete or evasive.
Nonparty Kingswood Capital Management, which acquired Progress Lighting in February 2024 — nearly two years after the lawsuit was filed — has been subpoenaed and objects to its involvement, calling the request a "fishing expedition." Kingswood has filed a motion to quash the subpoena from Mlazgar, arguing that the information sought is irrelevant to the breach of contract claims and serves only to harass.
Key deadlines for this case include:
- November 24, 2024: Deadline for motions to join other parties and amend pleadings.
- December 26, 2024: Deadline for Mlazgar's expert witness disclosures.
- January 25, 2025: Deadline for Current and Progress Lighting's expert witness disclosures.
- February 24, 2025: All discovery must be completed.
- March 7, 2025: Mediation must be completed.
- March 15, 2025: Deadline for filing all motions except those related to discovery or evidence admissibility.
- August 8, 2025: Case may be called for jury selection/trial, 60 days after dispositive motions are resolved. A future notice will set pretrial deadlines.
As both lawsuits advance through discovery and pre-trial motions, Mlazgar presses forward with its legal fights, with critical deadlines looming in late 2024 and early 2025. These cases could significantly shape the landscape—and may already be influencing—agent-manufacturer relationships in the Upper Midwest lighting markets.
