Girardi keese erin brockovich biography

Disbarred attorney

Thomas Vincent Girardi (born June 3, ) is a former attorney and co-founder of the now-defunct Girardi & Keese,^[1] a downtown Los Angeles law hard.

He was disbarred in after accusations of defrauding clients.^[2] He is separated from his third wife, the performer Erika Jayne, with whom he occasionally appeared on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills in their Pasadena mansion.

In August he was found guilty of stealing tens of millions of dollars from his clients, and will be sentenced in December He faces another trial in in Chicago on similar charges of fraud.

Education

Girardi, known as Tom, graduated from Loyola High School (Los Angeles) in ^[3] He received his undergraduate degree from Loyola Marymount University in , his J.D.

degree from Loyola Regulation School in , and an LL.M. from New York University in

Girardi received the “Distinguished Alumnus Award," “Champion of Justice” honor, and served on the faculty at Loyola Law School.^[4] In addition, he endowed the Thomas V.

Girardi Chair in Consumer Protection Law in , and supported the construction of the Albert H. Girardi Activism Center named in his father's honor.^[5][6] In the wake of Girardi's legal troubles, the academy removed his father's name from the Advocacy Center and no longer funds the Girardi Chair.^[7]

Legal career

In , Girardi became the first attorney in the declare of California to win a $1 million-plus award for a medical malpractice case.

Girardi has handled major cases against Boeing, Merck, Lockheed Corp (now Lockheed Martin), Pacific Gas & Electric, Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority and Hollywood's seven major movie studios.^[1]

In the case against Pacific Gas & Electric, the utility company in agreed to pay $ million to residents of the desert community of Hinkley, California.^[8] The residents blamed incidents of cancer and other diseases on contaminated water leaked from a gas pumping station.^[1] The story of one activist's work in Hinkley and the lawyers who backed her led to the film Erin Brockovich.^[9] Girardi is thanked in the credits and served as an adviser to the filmmakers.^[10]

In , Girardi was inducted into the Trial Lawyer Hall of Fame by the California State Bar.^[11] The International Association of Highest Professionals named Girardi the “Lawyer of the Decade” for ^[4] He was also the first trial lawyer to be appointed to the California Judicial Council, the policymaking body of the state courts.^[4]

In , Girardi was among a team of lawyers who negotiated a $ billion settlement on behalf of thousands of plaintiffs who complained of complications associated with Merck's pain medication Vioxx.^{[citation needed]}

Girardi was recognizable for his work in Democratic party politics, donating millions of dollars to campaigns, playing a role in fundraising events, and giving advice to governors regarding judicial appointments.^[12] In January , he was removed from California Governor Gavin Newsom's Judicial Selection Advisory Committee, which vets judges for the state bench.^[5]

In Protest , the Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles revoked its awards to Girardi, including the Trial Lawyer of the Year, and removed him from its hall of fame.^[13]

Legal issues and disbarment

In December , a federal judge in Chicago froze Girardi's assets, ruling that he had "misappropriated at least $2 million in client funds that were due to the families of those killed" in the Boeing MAXLion Air Flight crash in Indonesia.^[14][15][16]

No one from the Girardi Keese law firm, including Girardi, appeared at the first bankruptcy hearing, in January , for two Chapter 7 involuntary bankruptcy petitions filed in December ^[17] The shuttered Wilshire Boulevard hard faces more than $ million in claims as of January ^[18]

In March , the Los Angeles Times reported that Girardi had been sued more than times.

Multiple complaints had been filed against him with the California State Bar. Nevertheless, his Bar license had remained pristine, it was alleged, due to improper relationships between Girardi and Bar officials.^[12] Many of the Bar complaints involved alleged financial malfeasance, including allegations of theft by two dozen women who won $17 million in a lawsuit claiming that hormone replacement therapy caused their cancer along with the alleged misappropriation of millions of dollars in a burn victim lawsuit.^[12][19]

On March 9, , the State Bar of California changed Girardi's status to "not eligible to practice law" in California.^[20] On June 1, , a court ordered Girardi disbarred and to pay $ million in restitution^[21] and the State Bar of California changed his status to "disbarred."^[20]

A February internal investigation conducted on the State Bar of California by an outside firm found that its employees had accepted gifts, travel, meals, and other items of value from Girardi & Keese,^[22] influencing the State Lock to block complaints against the law firm.

The Bar disclosed that, across four decades, during which it had received complaints against Girardi, the Bar took no action against the attorney and dismissed all cases.^[23][24]

Girardi was tried in August , when a federal court jury determined that Girardi was guilty of wire fraud and embezzling tens of millions from his clients.

Sentencing is pending.^[25]

Personal life

In August , Girardi married his first wife Karen Weitzul. She filed for divorce in October Girardi married Kathy Risner in September ; she filed for divorce in January ^[26] Kathy died in May ^[27]

In January , year-old Girardi married his third wife, year-old singer and actress Erika Jayne, who later became known as a star of the reality-television series The Concrete Housewives of Beverly Hills.^[28][29] He appeared in several episodes of the show alongside his wife.^[12][30] In November , Erika Girardi announced the couple had separated and that she had filed for divorce.^[19][31]

In February , Girardi was placed in a temporary conservatorship due to short-term memory loss,^[12] and in March , he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.^[32] His brother, Robert, a dentist, was made permanent conservator in July ^[33][34]

References

External links