OC judge drops the hammer on OC probate Mafia
Judge Ebrahim Baytieh issued a scathing indictment about the lack of ethics and humanity the corrupt probate players in Orange County operate with.
There is an old cliché about the courts that goes something like this, “Judges speak through their orders.”
The latest proposed statement of decision- technically not quite an order yet- issued by Judge Ebrahim Baytieh in the Marty Adair conservatorship spoke very loudly.
He begins this way.
Marty Adair was put into conservatorship {the California equivalent of guardianship} at the behest of one of her children. The claim was that she had dementia, but in 2022 a Texas judge found this without merit. Here is part of a previous article, after a conversation with Marty’s daughter, Jodee Sussman.
In Texas, a judge determined that Jodee’s mom {Marty Adair} should never have been put into conservatorship in the first place, “Jodee told me something remarkable; before she died, a probate judge in Texas examined her mother and determined she should not be in guardianship {the equivalent of conservatorship in Texas} and did not have dementia: meaning this plundering was done for no good reason.”
Once in conservatorship, her assets were squandered until her prized piece of real estate was sold- well under market value- and her estate went into bankruptcy.
In May, I flew to Orange County, California, to attend oral arguments for this case. At issue on May 18, 2023, were arguments for and against hundreds of thousands in fees for the same professionals who Judge Baytieh described as, “forgetting their solemn legal and ethical obligations.”
Marty Adair was born on November 14, 1941, and died on June 30, 2022.
Nearly a year after her death, the fees for lawyers, fiduciaries, and other assorted probate vultures had still not been settled.
I expected most fees to be approved; Judge Baytieh proved me wrong.
Not only did Judge Baytieh shave more than half from the fee requests, but he took each player to task for their outrageous behavior.
No one got it worse than David Shaver, the court appointed guardian ad litem (GAL).
During the May argument, Jodee Sussman emphasized that Shaver only met with her mom twice, and it took six months before the first meeting. That was only after the family insisted.
Here is more from a previous article.
Judge Baytieh was equally flabbergasted. Here’s part of his proposed order.
Judge Baytieh concluded that if Shaver couldn’t be bothered to meet with Marty Adair for more than three and a half hours in the nearly three years (Shaver was appointed the GAL on August 14, 2019) he was her GAL, he can’t argue that much of anything he did was in her best interest. Judge Baytieh disapproved most of his fees.
Shaver asked for $44,360 in fees and another $7,699.23 in associated costs. He received all of his costs, but Judge Baytieh only approved $8,100 in fees.
Shaver did not respond to my email for comment, but he did speak to me previously.
Also taken to task by Judge Baytieh were Richard Huntington, the court appointed conservator, and his attorneys- Eric Becker and Samantha Morris Jones. Judge Baytieh referred to them as LOEB in his proposed order.
Huntington was not asking for any fees, because he wants his fees paid out of the bankruptcy he helped to create.
Becker and Morris-Jones, who are law partners, were looking for $186,990 in legal fees for representing Huntington. They didn’t want their client to pay it, but rather Marty Adair. They also asked for $7,198.37 in court related costs.
Becker and Morris-Jones made the argument that they were acting in their client’s (Huntington) best interest which by default meant they were acting in Marty Adair’s best interest.
Judge Baytieh was not swayed by this argument.
Rather than acting in Marty Adair’s best interest, Judge Baytieh found that Becker and Morris-Jones engaged in litigation for litigation’s sake.
By California law, after a judge issues a proposed statement of decision, each party has an opportunity to file a written objection. Becker and Morris-Jones did just that. In it, they claim that they took the high road throughout.
This ludicrous assertion is a good segway to another part of Judge Baytieh’s proposed order. Judge Baytieh also took Becker and Morris-Jones to task for making frivolous accusations against the attorney for another of Marty Adair’s daughters: James Harvey.
Becker and Morris-Jones did not file any objections to Shaver’s proposed fees, but they found much to object regarding Mr. Harvey’s fee request. They made serious accusations, which Judge Baytieh determined were meritless.
Mr. Harvey issued this statement to me.
The claims regarding my conduct were simply false. As the Statement of Decision notes, when asked by the court for proof of their claims Ms. Becker and Ms. Jones offered nothing. The court correctly rejected those claims and awarded my firm 99% of the fees we requested.
Judge Baytieh also noted that Becker and Morris-Jones engaged in petty name calling with Marty’s children.
Judge Baytieh approved $94,955 in legal fees and $478.21 in costs.
This proposed statement of decision is not an order yet; objections have been filed and Judge Baytieh may still change his mind, but that’s not likely.
Instead, he has sent a message that business as usual in Orange County probate will stop.
I first started to report on the probate problems in Orange County more than a year ago.
Besides this case, I have written about Lori Schiller, Ilya Tseglin, Rita King, and Yvette Dobbie.
Since then, Wayne Dolcefino has also exposed what he called the Orange County probate Mafia.
The victims are finding their voices.
Now, the judiciary may finally be listening; hopefully, we’re just getting started.
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, and Part 40.
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.
Welcome to the OC Probate Department Judge Baytieh This is hopeful!