The State Bar of California has rejected claims outlined in a lawsuit that it engaged in “rampant corruption” and incestuous relations with disbarred Los Angeles attorney Thomas Girardi, who is scheduled to face criminal proceedings later this year.
In a February filing in Los Angeles County Superior Court, the State Bar calls for the civil suit filed by Ana Agaton and Arturo Emanuel Agaton to be dismissed, saying that the former Girardi clients have brought no viable claims against the bar, which regulates the legal profession in the state and oversees attorney discipline.
The Agatons joined a class-action lawsuit against TXI Industries that was filed in 2008 by Girardi and his law firm, Girardi Keese. The lawsuit alleged that the Riverside-based company emitted excessive levels of chromium into the atmosphere, contributing to the brain cancer that led to the death of the Agatons’ 6-year-old son, Arturo Jr.
The parties settled the litigation in 2015 for a $31 million damages award, but Girardi never paid the Agatons their share of the proceeds, according to the complaint. The State Bar ignored scores of complaints against Girardi over several decades due to cozy relationships between former bar officials and the attorney, the lawsuit alleges.
“... This case exposes the rampant corruption at the State Bar of California and targets the incestuous relationship between Tom Girardi and the Girardi Keese law firm on the one hand, and the State Bar of California and its employees and staff on the other hand,” the lawsuit says. “This relationship allowed Girardi and Girardi Keese to steal millions from their clients (like the Agatons) and from referral lawyers, while Girardi showered his State Bar connections with cash, gifts, jewelry, meals at expensive clubs and restaurants, private jet transportation, employment at his law firm, trips to Las Vegas and more.”
The complaint alleges that 130 complaints were filed against Girardi over four decades, but none of them resulted in public discipline. The trial attorney was eventually disbarred on July 1, 2022, after the bar began to take action a year earlier.
“As to the putative class action, Agaton v. State Bar, the State Bar is deeply sympathetic to (the) plaintiffs’ loss of their son and the alleged harm caused by Thomas Girardi,” a State Bar spokesperson said in an email to the Southern California Record. “However, it is the State Bar’s position that (the) plaintiffs’ legal claims do not have merit, and the State Bar defendants have filed a demurrer seeking dismissal of the case.”
The State Bar’s response indicates that the claims against the defendants, including former Bar Association officials, are based on disputes about the effectiveness of the state’s attorney discipline system.
“However, the exclusive jurisdiction for such disputes lies solely with the California Supreme Court, and, as such, this court lacks jurisdiction to adjudicate the pending claims,” the State Bar’s filing states. “Next, although the State Bar has a public protection mission, its mission does not mean that it has a legal duty of care to protect plaintiffs from conduct by third parties. …”
The State Bar released two redacted reports last year about the bar’s relationship with Girardi. One of them, which was conducted by Halpern May Ybarra Gelberg LLP, found that Girardi’s efforts to buy influence among former bar officials likely affected the handling of complaints against him. Employees identified by the investigations no longer work for the bar, the State Bar said in a news release.
The plaintiffs’ lawsuit “largely parrots” the report’s conclusion, according to the bar’s February court filing, and the plaintiffs failed to exhaust administrative options available to them, such as seeking reimbursements from the State Bar’s Client Security Fund, which aids those who were victims of attorney misconduct, the court filing states.
The lawsuit criticizes the State Bar for failing to make unredacted copies of the investigative reports available to the public and argues that the bar actively concealed wrongdoing for its own benefit.