Corrected: High profile attorney leaves California woman high and dry

Dan Horowitz promised Joanna Rivera the stars and the sky

Please note: I originally identified the wrong Dan Horowitz. This is another high profile Dan Horowitz, an attorney from California. The previous article has been removed.

Dan Horowitz from his Wikipedia page

Dan Horowitz has built a significant profile in a career which has spanned decades.

Here is part of his Wikipedia page.

In 1999, Horowitz represented Sean Twomey, in what the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms claimed was running the "nation's largest black-market weapons trafficking case. A decade later (2012), Horowitz criticized the federal government's Mexican based gun investigation called "fast & furious", where real weapons were sold to gangs so that the federal government could trace the weapons flow.^[16] Horowitz claimed that the publicity was political and the scope of the case was blown out of proportion.^[17]

In December 2007, Horowitz filed suit in federal district court on behalf of radio talk show host Michael Savage against the Council on American-Islamic Relations, alleging copyright infringement and a violation of federal racketeering laws for using excerpts of Savage's radio program to criticize him and the content of his show. In its 21-page opinion issued on July 25, 2008, the Court noted ^[18] that: "The audio clip at issue in this dispute was taken from the two-hour long Savage Nation program that aired on October 29, 2007, in which it is undisputed that plaintiff said the following, among other things, about Muslims and about CAIR: (1) “I don’t want to hear one more word about Islam. Take your religion and shove it up your behind.” (2) “They need deportation . . . .You can take [CAIR] and throw them out of my country.” (3) “You can take your due process and shove it . . . .” (4) “[I]ts Muslims screaming for the blood of Christians or Jews or anyone they hate.” (5) “[Islam], a religion that teaches convert or kill, a religion that says oppress women, kill homosexuals . . . .” (6) “The Quran is a document of slavery and chattel.” " In dismissing Savage's copyright infringement claim, the federal court held that the Council on American-Islamic Relations' use of Savage's copyrighted radio excerpts was a protected fair use under copyright law and that Savage's racketeering claim (that depended on the copyright infringement allegation) was without merit.^[19] In a second case Horowitz filed on behalf of Savage in 2012, Savage won his case against syndicator TRN and released Savage from his contract with that network

He has been featured on CNN, FNC, and others.

When Joanna Rivera hired him in 2021 to handle her divorce and custody matter, she felt she was in good hands.

“We will do a great job. You have a whole team.” Ivan Golde said to her in a text message from March 2021.

Golde, another attorney, initially introduced Joanna to Horowitz.

I reached out to Golde and Horowitz by email but received no response.

I have done two previous stories on Joanna’s divorce and custody.

She lived most of her life in California, but her divorce started in Virginia after her ex-husband, big tech executive Dave Hillard, tricked her into moving there.

In 2017, Joanna told me that David acknowledged affairs and suggested a move to Virginia.

The whole thing may have been a ruse; approximately a year after moving to Virginia, he filed for divorce: in August 2018.

Part of a settlement from Virginia

By 2021, the divorce had moved back to Marin County and Hillard was misusing a protective order to keep one of Joanna’s daughters away from her.

Here is where David seems to have gotten preferential treatment from the courts.

First, both got domestic violence restraining orders on each other and then the judge, Sheila Lichtblau, ordered that the two revert back to a Virginia child custody agreement, which granted David approximately 75% of the child custody time.

“He weaponized the restraining order,” Joanna told me.

By this, he simply refused to return one daughter for her scheduled custody time.

With a restraining order in place, Joanna could not go to his home, or she would be arrested.

David, Joanna tells me, was also monitoring all his oldest daughter’s electronics so there was no way for Joanna to communicate with her one daughter.

Horowitz, Joanna told me, promised to use his connections and legal skills to fix the hot mess that had been created.

About the only thing Horowitz actually did was charge Joanna hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Part of a bill where Dan charges an astounding $800 per hour

The total bill from March 26, 2021, until June 29, 2021, was an astounding $146,000.

The total came to almost $150,000 for work between the end of March and June 2021

It’s worth it, as long as Dan did what he promised to do.

After all, Joanna’s ex-husband was physically abusive.

Notes made by David Hillard

One of her daughters was already transitioning, and Joanna was effectively removed from one daughter’s life by then.

Dan Horowitz promised Joanna the world: a team, a plan, and a way to fix the mess.

Joanna, middle, with Dan and the team. From left to right Ivan Golde, Dan Horowitz, Joanna,

Dan brought in a team, which charged Joanna tens of thousands of dollars.

I reached out to Romero and Caramagno but received no response.

Another bill, Carmela is cheaper only $750 per hour

The sum total led to nowhere, but the obliteration of the savings Joanna had built up.

She believes her ex-husband is worth eight or even nine figures, and as such, he can continue to fight legally.

I’ve reached out to him and his attorney, Matthew Mani, repeatedly. Mani initially told me he could not comment on the case and has not responded since.

In one questionable legal maneuver, Dan filed a lawsuit on Joanna’s behalf.

On the eve of a hearing, Joanna sent Dan a concerned email, “I noticed the original pleadings you filed for me, were actually filed with me appearing Pro per. I am not sure why they were filed that way. As I don’t recall that being a conversation. And I am just figuring it out right before the hearing. But It is not going to make sense to the Judge that I filed Pro per and am now asking for a continuance to find counsel.”

Dan’s response, “Exactly.  Pro per gives you more flexibility.”

He filed a lawsuit, but he made it so she would have to argue the lawsuit.

How this gave her “more flexibility” is anyone’s guess.

More promises: he didn’t win the restitution hearing

Dan also attempted to claw back more than $1 million which was in a Goldman Sachs account {to be split fairly Joanna believed} but, as Joanna told me, “It’s been 13 mons. Still tied up at Goldman Sachs.”

After about a year, Dan was let go, with Joanna having no money left.

Her situation was worse than when he was first brought on. Now, she had almost no funds left to fight.

Postscript

Find the previous articles in this series: Article 1, Article 2, Article 3., Article 4, Article 5, Article 6, Article 7, Article 8, and Article 9.

For more articles like this on corruption in California family courts check out the fundraiser.