NEW YORK, Oct 10 (Reuters) - An outdoor signage and supergraphics company that erected huge advertisements throughout Los Angeles has filed a legal malpractice suit claiming more than $1 million in damages against the law firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld.

World Wide Rush and its manager, Barry Rush, claim that Akin Gump gave bogus advice when it told the company that it could put up its giant signs after a federal judge lifted a city ban prohibiting them in September 2008. But in May 2010, a federal appeals court reversed the lower court judge and upheld the city's ban on the signs. The law firm's advice in 2008 led to lawsuits filed by the city and state against World Wide Rush, which the company alleges eventually drove it out of business.

The lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, alleges two counts of negligence against the law firm and seeks damages of more than $1 million.

Akin Gump declined to comment on pending litigation.

In 2008, U.S. District Judge Audrey Collins ruled that the city's ban on supergraphic signs and its ban on signs within certain proximity to freeways were unconstitutional. In granting an injunction, the judge ruled that the sign companies had a likelihood of winning the case challenging the law's constitutionality. But last year, the U.S Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit found that the city's rule was constitutional.

World Wide Rush is represented by Eric Webb and Brian Beecher, of Webb & Beecher in Los Angeles. They did not respond to messages seeking comment.

The case is World Wide Rush v. Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, Superior Court of the State of California for the County of Los Angeles.

(Reporting by Leigh Jones)

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