Page 1
Troubles for Beleaguered Girardi Mount As State Bar Strips Him of Active Bar Status
By a MetNews Staff Writer
|
|
|
—AP THOMAS V. GIRARDI Attorney |
Thomas V. Girardi—the one-time celebrity personal injury attorney who has been placed under a conservatorship, forced into bankruptcy, and is facing lawsuits seeking millions of dollars he allegedly siphoned from clients—has been relegated by the State Bar to inactive status.
The action was taken on Tuesday. It came on the heels of a hard-hitting investigative piece in the Los Angeles Times on Sunday by staff writers Harriet Ryan and Matt Hamilton.
Bearing the headline, “Lawyer seduced State Bar,” the article begins:
“The warning signs about Tom Girardi flashed year after year, allegations that he skimmed settlement money, inflated costs, abandoned clients and cheated colleagues.
“The vaunted Los Angeles trial lawyer, a regular on ‘Real Housewives of Beverly Hills,’ and his firm were sued more than a hundred times from the 1980s to last year, with at least half of those cases asserting misconduct in his law practice.
“Yet through it all, Girardi’s record with the State Bar of California, the government agency that regulates attorneys, remained pristine. The bar took no action to warn the public despite receiving what The Times has learned were multiple complaints. That spotless license allowed him to continue marketing himself as one of the nation’s most renowned civil lawyers and to sign up thousands of new clients, some of whom would later say he absconded with millions of dollars of their settlement money.”
Relationship With Layton
Ryan and Hamilton noted Girardi’s “tight relationship” over the years with State Bar investigator Tom Layton, now retired.
Their article, in the final sentence, says of Girardi:
“To this day, he holds an active license to practice law.”
Two days later, that changed. No explanation for the action is provided on the State Bar’s website.
Girardi’s firm, Girardi |Keese, is shut down. Girardi’s wife, actress/singer Erika Jayne, is seeking a divorce.
Conservatorship Petition
A conservatorship petition filed by a brother, dentist Robert Girardi, in January, says:
“Thomas V. Girardi (‘Tom’) is a renowned trial lawyer, responsible for some of the most notable mass tort verdicts in California. However, at age 81, Tom’s current condition has sadly deteriorated to the point where he cannot care for himself without assistance. His short-term memory is severely compromised and, on information and belief, he is often not oriented as to date, time or place.”
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Superior Court Judge Daniel Juarez on Feb. 1 named the brother temporary guardian.
In January, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Holly J. Fujie said she would report the lawyer to the State Bar based on mishandling client funds.
Girardi was admitted to the State Bar on Jan. 13, 1965. He received his law degree from Loyola.
Copyright 2021, Metropolitan News Company