Tort Law
Ex-Client Awarded $867K Against Lawyer Who Stole $75K and Law Firm That Referred Her to Him Posted Oct 16, 2012 1:30 PM CDT
By Martha Neil
EmailPrintReprints A woman whose lawyer misappropriated most of the $100,000 she was supposed to get in a probate case has had her day in court and was teary-eyed after a $867,000 jury verdict Monday in Bexar County, Texas.
“I am very pleased. The jury believed in me," Isabel Sloan told the San Antonio Express-News.
The award includes $377,000 against now-disbarred attorney Eric Turton, who gave Sloan $25,000 of a $100,000 probate settlement she was supposed to get and admittedly kept the rest, as well as another attorney, Oscar C. Gonzalez, who referred her to Turton. An additional $200,000 was awarded against Gonzalez and his law firm, plus the verdict includes attorney's fees for Kolb of a little over $290,000.
Although Gonzalez contended that he had simply referred Sloan to Turton, who had rented office space from him, Sloan contended that Gonzalez should have known Turton had a history of disciplinary issues and took a $2,500 retainer. Turton testified that Gonzalez referred cases to him and got a portion of the attorney's fees. Testimony at trial also showed that some of Sloan's money went to pay law office rent, the article says.
The jury found both lawyers responsible for a $75,000 misappropriation and fraud and additionally held Gonzalez and his firm liable for false, misleading and deceptive acts and practices and gross negligence.
Turton was disbarred as a result of taking the money, but there is no public record of any disciplinary against against Gonzalez, the newspaper reports.
Sloan's lawyer, Carl Kolb, told the Express-News that the local grievance committee of the State Bar of Texas "utterly failed her and has become a good ol' boy system."
Attorney Phil Watkins, who represents Gonzalez, said “We're going to consider all of our options for appeal.”
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Related Topics
Consumer Law, Law Firms, Partners, Solos/Small Firms, Legal Ethics, Tort Law, Trials & Litigation, Verdicts & Settlements
http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/ex-client_awarded_867k_law_firm_that_referred_her_to_lawyer_who_stole_75k/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
Showing posts with label Trials Litigation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Trials Litigation. Show all posts
Monday, October 29, 2012
Saturday, July 7, 2012
Feds Say DA Got $80K, Judge Got $10K As They Conspired to Obtain Part of Murderer’s $500K Bail Bond
Chicago FBI, DOJ, AG, IRS...Don't let the Western FEDs get all the publicity and glory. Dig into the Probate Court of Cook County, 18th Floor, Daley Center. You have another "Greylord" ready for the picking. Lucius Verenus, Schoolmaster, ProbateSharks.com
White-Collar Crime
Feds Say DA Got $80K, Judge Got $10K As They Conspired to Obtain Part of Murderer’s $500K Bail Bond
Posted Jul 2, 2012 5:45 PM CDT
By Martha Neil
EmailPrintReprints
More details are emerging in an ongoing judicial corruption case in federal court in South Texas that federal authorities say involved, in addition to other alleged misconduct by multiple defendants, a conspiracy between a district attorney, a judge and a friendly lawyer representing the children of a murder victim.
The trio are accused in a federal indictment of conspiring together to arrange a criminal conviction of Amit Livingston in the murder case, while simultaneously putting together a settlement in the civil wrongful death case, which was also being overseen by then-District Judge Abel Limas.
Livingston's criminal conviction made it possible to use his $500,000 bond to fund the civil settlement. Meanwhile, the judge allowed him 60 days to get his affairs in order, based simply on his promise that he would return to serve his sentence, according to the San Antonio Express-News.
But Livingston absconded, and five years later has not been found. The indictment contends that a substantial amount of the $200,000 fee from the settlement that went to the friendly attorney representing the victim's children, Eduardo “Eddie” Lucio, was shared with the other two members of the trio: Limas got $10,000, and Cameron County District Attorney Armando Villalobos got $80,000, federal prosecutors say.
Both Lucio and Villalobos have pleaded not guilty, and the DA is arguing that the indictment is too vague to permit him to defend himself against the charges, the Brownsville Herald reports.
Limas earlier took a plea and is awaiting sentencing.
The Associated Press also has a story about the latest allegations.
Earlier coverage:
ABAJournal.com: "DA Gave Me Money, Too, Ex-Judge Testifies at Another Lawyer’s Federal Racketeering Trial"
39527
Related Topics
Constitutional Law, Criminal Justice, Prosecutors, White Collar Crime, Judiciary, Legal Ethics, Trials & Litigation, Evidence, 5th Circuit Court
http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/feds_say_da_got_80k_judge_got_10k_as_they_conspired_to_obtain_part_of_murde/
KawamotoDragon.com
White-Collar Crime
Feds Say DA Got $80K, Judge Got $10K As They Conspired to Obtain Part of Murderer’s $500K Bail Bond
Posted Jul 2, 2012 5:45 PM CDT
By Martha Neil
EmailPrintReprints
More details are emerging in an ongoing judicial corruption case in federal court in South Texas that federal authorities say involved, in addition to other alleged misconduct by multiple defendants, a conspiracy between a district attorney, a judge and a friendly lawyer representing the children of a murder victim.
The trio are accused in a federal indictment of conspiring together to arrange a criminal conviction of Amit Livingston in the murder case, while simultaneously putting together a settlement in the civil wrongful death case, which was also being overseen by then-District Judge Abel Limas.
Livingston's criminal conviction made it possible to use his $500,000 bond to fund the civil settlement. Meanwhile, the judge allowed him 60 days to get his affairs in order, based simply on his promise that he would return to serve his sentence, according to the San Antonio Express-News.
But Livingston absconded, and five years later has not been found. The indictment contends that a substantial amount of the $200,000 fee from the settlement that went to the friendly attorney representing the victim's children, Eduardo “Eddie” Lucio, was shared with the other two members of the trio: Limas got $10,000, and Cameron County District Attorney Armando Villalobos got $80,000, federal prosecutors say.
Both Lucio and Villalobos have pleaded not guilty, and the DA is arguing that the indictment is too vague to permit him to defend himself against the charges, the Brownsville Herald reports.
Limas earlier took a plea and is awaiting sentencing.
The Associated Press also has a story about the latest allegations.
Earlier coverage:
ABAJournal.com: "DA Gave Me Money, Too, Ex-Judge Testifies at Another Lawyer’s Federal Racketeering Trial"
39527
Related Topics
Constitutional Law, Criminal Justice, Prosecutors, White Collar Crime, Judiciary, Legal Ethics, Trials & Litigation, Evidence, 5th Circuit Court
http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/feds_say_da_got_80k_judge_got_10k_as_they_conspired_to_obtain_part_of_murde/
KawamotoDragon.com
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