Judge says evidence suggest Edwards Wildman attorney was over her head

LOS ANGELES -- The judge in the Edwards Wildman Palmer LLP malpractice trial rejected a defense motion for a directed verdict Thursday, saying there was evidence suggesting the main attorney representing the plaintiff was over her head.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Terry A. Green disagreed with defense counsel that compelling points had not been made against them. "Is there enough to proceed on a breach of fiduciary duty claim? I think that there is," Green said. "'Pencils down' is evidence of admissible intent," noting further that he found this evidence "extraordinary" and "disturbing."

"Pencils down" referred to an email sent by Edwards Wildman attorney Dominique Shelton to her team which the plaintiff says suggests they should cease work on the invasion of privacy suit by disbarred British solicitor Shahrokh Mireskandari against a British tabloid due to the fact that he had not paid their fees.

Shelton has contended that her team continued to represent the plaintiff's interests.

Green said he still did not understand how Shelton, described as a high-powered attorney with a sterling academic background, was consulting professors from George Washington University and attorneys from Greenberg Glusker Fields Claman & Machtinger LLP on aspects of the case.

"There's a problem you're going to need to address, which is: Was she over her head and did she know she was in over her head?" the judge told principal defense attorney John M. Moscarino of Valle Makoff LLP. "I think there is evidence through breadcrumbs, that if followed, suggest Ms. Shelton was in over her head."

Green also said he hoped he would not have to make new law regarding the case, and believed that it could be settled on existing breach of loyalty doctrines.

Moscarino had spent much the day's cross-examination focused on the plaintiff's funding for his multiple lawsuits, many against law firms.

In the middle of a legal malpractice trial Moscarino sought permission Thursday to pursue questioning based on the defense premise the disbarred plaintiff and his British solicitor wife were involved in bankruptcy fraud and money laundering.

The judge denied the request.

"There's nothing ordinary about this case and nothing ordinary about people who go to extraordinary lengths to perpetrate fraud," Moscarino had argued to Green outside the presence of a jury.

He said Mireskandari's wife, Saeedeh Mirshahi, perpetrated "the most monumental fraud that I've ever seen" while she acted as the beneficial owner of British wealth management and law firm Baxendale-Walker LLP beginning in 2008.

"I don't think you can prove it," Green said in response, stipulating Moscarino also could not ask Mirshahi if she eventually sued the firm's namesake, British legal author Paul Baxendale-Walker in a Los Angeles court, whether she borrowed money from him or currently owed him money.

"I've allowed this because of the Paul email, that he was a source of funds to pay off these bills," Green said referring to an email in evidence that seems to imply one of Mireskandari's many former attorneys, Breton A. Bocchieri, sent an email noting the need to secure money from Paul Baxendale-Walker.

On the subject of financing Mireskandari's legal fees for his multiple lawsuits in the United States and Britain, Mirshahi testified, "I believe the payments came from the company," referring to Baxendale-Walker LLP, which she said stopped doing official business in 2013.

After 2013 she said, it acted as a shell for friends and family who wanted to contribute to Mireskandari's legal fund to discreetly donate without having their names attached to the money.

"They give it to the company, the company gives it to me," Mirshahi said. "It was used as a shield for people to loan us money."

Mirshahi elaborated that she used a solicitor's undertaking, written letters that evidenced the debts, which she said had all been paid back.

"Were there some monies that were paid that were not loans?" Moscarino asked, implying Baxendale-Walker had kicked in funds directly.

"Personally I don't think he's ever funded anything," Mirshahi said in response, a refrain she would return to repeatedly.

Mireskandari was disbarred in Britain after the Daily Mail ran a series of 2008 stories alleging he fabricated his legal qualifications and hidden a criminal conviction. He sued Edwards Wildman Palmer, alleging the firm overcharged him and misrepresented its expertise when they represented him in a libel suit that eventually shifted into an invasion of privacy case against the tabloid. Shahrokh Mireskandari v. Edwards Wildman Palmer, BC517799 (Filed Aug 9, 2013, L.A. Sup. Ct.).

Statements Mirshahi had previously given on Nov. 15, 2017, as part of an arbitration case Mireskandari had against Novak Druce Connolly Bove + Quigg LLP seemed to contradict her testimony on when Baxendale-Walker removed himself from the company, although Green did not consider this important.