The former CEO of Patriot National is suing Simpson Thacher & Bartlett and Kasowitz Benson Torres for malpractice, alleging the law firms are to blame for the company's demise and impending bankruptcy.Fort Lauderdale-based Patriot National, an outsourcing, technology and underwriting company for the insurance industry, laid off 250 employees last month and announced that it would be acquired by its lenders, and that its subsidiaries would file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The company is also facing a lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, brought by laid-off employees who allege the company owes them 60 days unpaid wages, salary, commissions, bonuses, accrued holiday pay, accrued vacation pay, pension, 401k contributions, and health insurance benefits because it violated the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act when it failed to give 60 days advance notice of the layoffs. That suit is seeking class-action certification.The malpractice lawsuit, filed Nov. 30 by Patriot's ex-CEO Steven Mariano, claims Simpson Thacher failed to draft unambiguous documents that protected Mariano from market manipulation by hedge funds in a private offering, and also did not warn him about the risks involved in the deal. The private offering thrust Patriot National and Mariano into litigation and Simpson Thacher then referred Mariano to Kasowitz Benson for the litigation.In suit also alleges that Kasowitz Benson put its own interests above the client’s by not telling Mariano about possible claims against Simpson Thacher’s work, and failing to warn or protect him through legal documents about the transactions that were taking place.In a firm statement issued Wednesday, Kasowitz said Mariano’s claims were without merit.“Contrary to those claims, the Kasowitz firm never represented Mr. Mariano at any time. In fact, Mr. Mariano had his own counsel representing and advising him," the firm stated. "We look forward to securing the dismissal of these frivolous claims.”Simpson Thacher did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In 2014, Mariano hired Simpson Thacher to handle Patriot National’s initial public offering, which raised $141 million in January of 2015. According to the complaint, the law firm continued to do work for the company and when Mariano contacted the firm to raise more capital later in 2015, it paired the company with "predatory" hedge fund investors who engaged in "market manipulation" that threw the stock price into a "death spiral." That, in turn, threw Mariano and his company into litigation with the funds and other investors who were capitalizing on the crash of its stock price, the complaint said.The plaintiff alleges that Simpson Thacher recommended Kenneth David, a former Simpson Thacher attorney who had moved to Kasowitz Benson, to handle the hedge fund litigation because he wouldn’t be likely to criticize Simpson Thacher’s handling of the transaction. Kasowitz Benson then prepared answers for the company and Mariano that were later stricken as legally insufficient. That precluded Mariano’s opportunity to assert a defense of fraud in the inducement and other defenses to the hedge fund’s claims, the complaint alleges.Kasowitz Benson placed 137th on The AmLaw 200 rankings in 2017. Simpson Thacher ranked No. 16.