The State Bar of California’s Office of Chief Trial Counsel recently filed disciplinary charges against another California billboard attorney. The charges are in relation to a 2013 $53 million settlement. As Law.com reported:
“The State Bar of California filed a notice of disciplinary charges against ex-Girardi Keese partner Robert Finnerty for intentionally withholding information about a $53 million settlement from his clients.
The bar’s Office of Chief Trial Counsel filed the charges in State Bar Court on Friday. The complaint focuses on the family of Joseph Ruigomez, who was severely injured after a gas pipe explosion at his house in San Bruno, California, in 2010. Ruigomez’s family hired Finnerty and Tom Girardi, of Los Angeles-based Girardi Keese, to sue Pacific Gas & Electric, which settled in 2013 for $53 million.”
According to the complaint, the client was never told about the amount of the settlement. Per Law.com:
“But, according to the bar complaint, Finnerty never told the Ruigomez family about the amount of the settlement.
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The bar brought eight counts in the complaint, including one count of failure to communicate a settlement, one count of conflict of interest, one count of failure to notify the receipt of client funds and two counts of failure to render an account of client funds, in violation of the California Rules of Professional Conduct. The remaining counts are for moral turpitude in breach of fiduciary duty and overreaching by settling without authority, misrepresenting and concealing the actual settlement amount, and concealment of misappropriated funds in violation of California’s Business and Professions Code.”
Per the complaint, the firm, which has since disbanded after filing for bankruptcy, misappropriated $6.6 million from the family’s settlement, falsely stating the funds were in a high-interest account, while sending misleading “interest payments.” The family was allegedly kept in the dark for months.
“According to the complaint, Girardi Keese deposited $28 million of the settlement but failed to inform the Ruigomez family until months later. The Ruigomez family was owed at least $11 million from that portion of the settlement, but Girardi Keese had misappropriated $6.6 million. Girardi, with Finnerty’s knowledge, allegedly told the Ruigomez family the firm was negotiating medical liens and had placed the settlement funds into an account bearing 6.5% interest. Girardi Keese then sent the Ruigomez family what was referred to as ‘interest payments.’”
This complaint is only the latest in a series of disciplinary actions brought against California billboard attorneys.
“Finnerty, who was admitted to practice law in California in 1985, was mentioned several times at last year’s criminal trial of Girardi, who was charged with stealing $15 million from four clients. A jury convicted Girardi of four counts of wire fraud, one of which was tied to the Ruigomez case.
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The former chief financial officer of Girardi Keese, Christopher Kamon, pleaded guilty on Oct. 11 of last year to two counts of wire fraud. On March 20, Staton ordered him to pay $3.1 million in restitution, and his sentencing is scheduled for April 11. Finnerty is the latest ex-Girardi Keese partner targeted by bar authorities since Girardi was disbarred in 2022.
The bar has charged former Girardi Keese partner David Lira, who is Girardi’s son-in-law. But the State Bar Court judge paused those disciplinary proceedings while Lira, now at Engstrom, Lipscomb & Lack in Los Angeles, faces a criminal trial later this year in Chicago. Federal prosecutors charged Lira, along with Girardi and Kamon, with stealing $3 million in settlements with Boeing from victims of the 2018 crash of Lion Air Flight 610. A State Bar Court judge last year declined to disbar another former Girardi Keese partner, Keith Griffin, but recommended he be suspended from practice for six months, placed on probation for one year and pay $1,250 in sanctions.”
This growing trend of personal injury lawyers mistreating their clients further highlights the need for greater transparency, consumer protection, and meaningful litigation abuse reform in California.