CELLINO: BARNES STINGY

Staff ‘Scrooge’ claims

Ross Cellino and Stephen Barnes — the law partners behind the personal-injury firm known for its “Don’t wait, call 8” jingle — rake in $10 million each a year while some of their 230 employees can’t afford health insurance, new court filings charge.

Cellino (inset top) filed affidavits from employees depicting Barnes (inset bottom) as a Scrooge in his ongoing lawsuit to dissolve their Buffalobased firm over disagreements about expansion.

Senior trial attorney Gregory V. Pajak says in a new Erie County Supreme Court filing that he met with colleagues to discuss asking Cellino and Barnes to provide a 401(k) match for employees.

Pajak says that Cellino is in favor of the proposal but “Steve [Barnes] has personally told me that he is not.”

“I am also aware that Ross wants to contribute to health insurance for the entire staff, pay bar [association] dues and attorney CLE [continuing legal education] expenses,” Pajak writes in the filing. “I am also aware that Steve [Barnes] remains opposed to providing any of these benefits.”

Pajak claims the company’s chief operating officer, Daryl Ciambella, told him that if “the firm provided health insurance, it would go ‘bankrupt’ and would not be ‘profitable.’ ”

“When I learned that both Ross and Steve receive compensation in the range of $1 million a month, it became clear to me that Daryl was less than truthful when he said the firm would go bankrupt if it contributed to health insurance,” Pajak says. “This type of conduct and management style resulted in a firm culture that was far from desirable,” Pajak says.

An office manager who also filed an affidavit on behalf of Cellino backed Pajak’s claims. Maureen A. Napoli writes, “Ross stated a desire to have Cellino and Barnes contribute to employee 401(k) and health benefits. Steve refused to even discuss this.” She adds, “By outbursts, yelling, bullying and in many cases firing employees, Steve created a toxic environment within Cellino and Barnes.”

Barnes says that he carried the firm for years after Cellino’s law license was suspended for professional misconduct in 2005.

“You ought to thank your lucky stars that you had and have me as a partner,” Barnes allegedly wrote in an e-mail to Cellino.

Attorneys for Barnes did not reply to e-mail and phone messages seeking comment.