This is what our next Deserve to Win Podcast Guest Is Up to…

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So you know that show Real Housewives of Beverly Hills?

Me neither.

Anyway apparently one of the housewives was married to this rich lawyer dude who, apparently, ended up disbarred because his firm was fleecing a bunch of folks. Bad stuff.

This according to a new complaint filed by Jay Edelson— our latest Deserve to Win episode, which will drop next week.

News coverage about the case states:

The now-defunct Girardi Keese law firm operated a continuing criminal enterprise that stole more than $100 million from its clients, co-counsel, vendors, “and many others unfortunate enough to do business with the firm,” the Edelson PC law firm said in a federal lawsuit.

Girardi Keese allegedly siphoned off settlement payments to family members of plane-crash victims, women who developed breast cancer after taking hormone replacement therapy, and others who hired the plaintiffs’ firm, according to the lawsuit, filed late Wednesday. Instead of turning over awards to clients, millions of dollars went to fund lavish lifestyles of Thomas Girardi and his “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” wife, Erika Girardi, the filing said.

“When the curtain was finally pulled back, it became clear that Girardi Keese operated in a manner similar to a Ponzi scheme, but much worse,” according to the US District Court for the Northern District of California lawsuit.

Edelson served as Girardi Keese’s local co-counsel for clients in the litigation over the 2018 crash of Lion Air flight JT 610. In December 2019, Edelson sued Girardi, Girardi Keese, and others to recoup its share of attorneys’ fees and to track down Boeing Co. settlement funds Girardi Keese still owes to several clients. Girardi creditors filed an involuntary Chapter 7 bankruptcy petition against the firm.

Girardi Keese collapsed within days of Edelson filing a contempt petition for money stolen from Lion Air families, the lawsuit said. Tom Girardi was disbarred in June, and the California Supreme Court ordered him to pay $2.28 million plus 10% interest for funds stolen from clients.

More here: https://news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/edelson-sues-girardi-law-firm-alleging-100-million-fraud-plot

Interesting suit, no?

Then Jay tweets this today:

As the kids like to say: I’m dead.

Maybe this is why he says TCPA litigation is “boring.” Ha.

You’re going to love our interview with the guy. Look for it next week!

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Published by Eric J. Troutman

The Czar of TCPAWorld Eric Troutman is one of the country’s prominent class action defense lawyers and is nationally recognized in Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) litigation and compliance. He has served as lead defense counsel in more than 70 national TCPA class actions and has litigated nearly a thousand individual TCPA cases in his role as national strategic litigation counsel for major banks and finance companies. He also helps industry participants build TCPA-compliant processes, policies, and systems. Eric has built a national litigation practice based upon deep experience, rigorous analysis and extraordinary responsiveness. Eric and his team feel equally at home litigating multibillion dollar telecommunications class actions in federal court as they do developing and executing national litigation strategies for institutions facing an onslaught of individual TCPA matters. They thrive in each of these roles – delivering consistently excellent results – while never losing sight of the client experience. While many firms now tout TCPA expertise, Eric has been there from the beginning. He built one of the country’s first TCPA-only defense teams and began serving as national TCPA counsel for his clients nearly a decade ago. This perspective allows him to swiftly develop the right litigation strategies for dealing with recurring problems, without wasting time on tactics that are bound to fail. Eric’s rich historical perspective and encyclopedic knowledge of the TCPA landscape also make him an invaluable resource to institutional compliance teams struggling to comply with the shifting regulatory landscape. No task is too small – or too big. Indeed, Eric and his team have helped build TCPA-compliant systems and processes for some of the largest and most complex corporate entities in the country. He commonly works with in-house compliance counsel to build and implement enterprise and business-line specific TCPA solutions, performs TCPA audits and drafts and reviews proposed TCPA policies and procedures. He and his team also have the technical expertise necessary to assist call centers seeking to develop TCPA-resistant call path architecture or to modify existing telephony and software integration to better insulate from potential TCPA exposure. Eric has built a reputation for thought leadership. An avid blogger and speaker, he has been at the forefront of the industry’s effort to push for clarity and a return to sanity for the TCPA for years. He was selected to advocate for the financial services industry on important TCPA issues before the Federal Communications Commission and co-authored the nation’s only comprehensive practice guide on TCPA defense. In his spare time, Eric leads defense teams representing banks and other financial services companies in consumer finance litigation matters. He has experience representing clients in UCC, TILA, RESPA FCRA, CCRA, CLRA, FDCPA, RFDCPA and FCCPA claims, as well as in fraud and bank operations issues.

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