Ad Agency Dispute Put on Hold

A state court judge reserved a decision Monday on a request that he prohibit six former top executives of Lord, Geller, Federico, Einstein Inc. from soliciting business or employees from Lord Geller for their new ad agency.

Justice Herman Cahn asked attorneys for Lord Geller, which had made the request for a preliminary injunction, and for the defecting Lord Geller executives to work out a plan for introducing evidence in the case.

The six executives, led by Lord Geller founding partners Richard Lord and Arthur Einstein Jr., walked off the job March 18, saying they felt unduly constrained under the ownership of the British firm WPP Group PLC.

Since the six top partners left Lord Geller to form a new agency called Lord, Einstein, O’Neill & Partners, about 30 other Lord Geller employees have quit, some of them signing on with the new agency.

Two Lord Geller clients, WNBC-TV and New Yorker magazine, have indicated that they plan to take their business to the new agency.