CA BAR Trustee signals more oversight over probate lawyers
Mark Toney made the comments during a CA BAR Public Hearing on Procedures for Discipline, Attorney Competency, and Admissions
A California BAR Trustee signaled that the BAR disciplinary committee may give more scrutiny to unethical probate lawyers.
CA BAR Trustee Mark Toney made the comments during a November 27, 2023, “hearing on Procedures for Discipline, Attorney Competency, and Admissions.”
Toney said during his statement, “It is noteworthy that half of the people testifying today were testifying on the same topic.”
There were three people who made comments about corrupt probate lawyers from Orange County during the testimony.
Toney continued, “And then learning a little bit more about some of the complaints and what could go wrong.”
Toney’s comment came after a small army of victims of the Orange County Probate Mafia made speeches during the time allotted to the public.
Jodee Sussman, Farnaz Rahimi, and Rita King all gave testimony during the hearing.
Below is Jodee’s testimony.
{Check out my podcast with Jodee here, and here is more on Jodee’s story}
Jodee summarized how unscrupulous lawyers like Eric Becker made misstatements to the court about her mother, Marty Adair’s, financial health. She described how her mother’s legacy- the American Way Cultural Center- was sold off at under market value.
She further described how attorney David Shaver- her mother’s guardian ad litem- met with her only twice while going along with the scheme.
Farnaz Rahimi was next; check out my podcast with Farnaz.
Farnaz said that if the BAR had acted on prior complaints, she might have been spared her heartache. That’s because the players in her case have come up before, and their misdeeds, Farnaz said, were ignored by the BAR and others.
Mark Toney, after Farnaz spoke, told the participants to file a complaint, except that’s what Farnaz, Jodee, and others have already done.
There was another question about whether these unscrupulous lawyers were court appointed.
In many cases, they are. David Shaver was court appointed in Marty Adair’s case.
I reached out to Shaver and Becker, but I received no response.
Here is Jodee speaking more about this in response to that question.
In Farnaz’s case, Richard Huntington was appointed as the fiduciary, and Huntington was allowed to select an attorney, Steve Giammichele.
As Farnaz noted, when Huntington began acting in an unethical manner, he could use trust money to defend himself.
Rita King also spoke. Check out Rita’s speech from the May 2023 rally below.
I didn’t record Rita’s testimony; however, she starts at 32 minutes of the full hearing.
{More on Rita’s story here}
Rita spoke about how her father, Gustave Verdult, was put into a temporary conservatorship which is now nearly five years old. California law only allows- supposedly- for a temporary conservatorship to last sixty days.
She talked about violations of fiduciary duty in her case, self-dealing, and financial malfeasance.
“It appears to me that no matter what the families show,” Rita told the BAR, “These attorneys are not being held accountable.”
The comments from Trustee Toney suggest that the BAR heard the victims, but the history of the California BAR suggests otherwise.
In March 2023, I interviewed Justin Beck.
He dealt with another corrupt Orange County attorney, Ken Catanzarite. Justin’s story does not involve probate.
He, like Jodee and others, also filed a complaint against Catanzarite. His complaint went nowhere, and he discovered that the BAR often looks the other way when it comes to unethical lawyers. He filed suit.
The case of Tom Girardi put the BAR in the spotlight.
Now, Girardi stands disgraced, disbarred and charged in two states with bilking his clients. The Agatons are again fighting -- this time seeking accountability not from a corporate polluter but from the state of California and its agency responsible for rooting out corruption and crooks among the Golden State's 200,000 attorneys.
"We want justice," Ana Agaton said.
Today in Los Angeles, the Agatons filed a class-action lawsuit against the California Bar, alleging "gross negligence" and "reckless misconduct," claiming that the body responsible for regulating the largest community of lawyers in the country "failed to do its job" and "actively protected Tom Girardi and [his firm] Girardi & Keese from ethical complaints and discipline for decades."
"Had the state Bar carried out its mission of protecting the public, this complaint, and many others like it, would not be necessary," the lawsuit says. "But the state Bar did not put the public first. Instead, while Girardi was hard at work defrauding his clients and co-counsel, state Bar officials were gallivanting around the country in Girardi's private jet, staying at luxury hotels in Las Vegas, enjoying fine dining at expensive private clubs, attending lavish holiday parties with Hollywood entertainers, or attending concerts and other events, all paid for by Girardi."
Michael Sternberg, another speaker, described the problems with the California BAR disciplinary process in more detail.
Sternberg described a BAR disciplinary process which is a joke. The BAR will claim they are not a tryer of facts, Sternberg noted, but then state facts. They don’t investigate, so there is no way to find out if a lawyer acted unethically.
Sternberg ended his presentation by calling for cameras in all California courtrooms, including those for BAR disciplinary hearings.
I support those two ideas.
Postscript:
Check out the previous articles on the series on Orange County. Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8. Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12, Part 13, Part 14, Part 15, Part 16, Part 17, Part 18, Part 19, Part 20, Part 21, Part 22, Part 23, Part 24, Part 25. Part 26, Part 27, Part 28, Part 29, Part 30, Part 31, Part 33, Part 34, Part 35, Part 36, Part 37, Part 38, Part 39, Part 40, Part 41, Part 42, and Part 43.
The OC probate Mafia is on the ropes, but they are not out. Please consider contributing to the Orange County fundraiser so I can continue this investigation.
Thirdly I motion for those two things to be federally mandated and implemented into every state these kangaroo for profit scam courts, aka family courts exist.
Once again, thank you Michael!!