Expected creditors’ bankruptcy filing is latest of Girardi’s woes

The wildly successful legal career of Thomas V. Girardi, the Los Angeles-based plaintiffs' lawyer who rocketed to fame and fortune over a decades long career, is collapsing as he faces a wave of lawsuits and financial travails.

He is accused of stealing millions of dollars from a wide variety of clients, from children who died in the crash of a Boeing jet in Indonesia to his own longtime partner, Robert M. Keese, who filed two lawsuits against him Monday in Los Angeles County Superior Court.

A lawyer for California Attorney Lending II, who said Girardi owes the firm $6.25 million in a judgment, said other creditors will file an involuntary bankruptcy petition against Girardi and Girardi Keese in the Central District of California.

William F. Savino, a Buffalo, New York-based partner with Woods Oviatt Gilman LLP who represents California Attorney Lending II, told the Illinois federal judge presiding over the plane crash case Wednesday that a bankruptcy case would be filed by the end of the week.

In a telephone interview Thursday, Savino said his client, which lends money to plaintiffs' firms, is a secured creditor, placing it ahead of other creditors who will be filing the petition.

On Monday, U.S. District Judge Thomas M. Durkin of the Northern District of Illinois held Girardi and his firm in civil contempt for $2 million. He also froze all of Girardi's and his firm's assets until the appointment of a bankruptcy trustee. In re: Lion Air Flight JT 610 Crash, 18-CV07686 (N.D. Ill., filed Nov. 19, 2018).

California Attorneys Lending II is one of the defendants in a lawsuit filed for the crash victims' families by Jay Edelson, an attorney with Edelson PC, who accused Girardi and his firm in a complaint of keeping money from a confidential settlement reached with Boeing Co. in the case.

Edelson alleges Girardi tried to maintain a lavish lifestyle for himself and his wife, Erika Jayne, a pop artist and one of the stars of "The Real Wives of Beverly Hills," despite his huge debts. Edelson PC v. Girardi et al., 20-CV07115 (N.D. Ill., filed Dec. 2, 2020).

"As a result, and most egregiously, Tom has resorted to embezzling the proceeds of settlements that should have been directed to his clients -- including, as the basis for this Complaint, the widows and orphans who lost loved ones in the tragic crash of Lion Air Flight 610 -- in order to continue funding his and Erika's lavish Beverly Hills lifestyles," Edelson wrote.

Other former clients also demanded accountings when they said they had not received money owed once lawsuits settled.

Girardi could not be reached for comment on Thursday. His attorneys also could not be reached.

The latest person to sue Girardi is the now-retired Keese, his law partner of more than 30 years.

In one complaint, Keese -- along with former Girardi Keese attorney Robert Finnerty and the widow of the former firm attorney James G. O'Callahan -- seeks a dissolution of their partnership and an accounting for money they say was never paid by Girardi to cover taxes on the firm's Wilshire Boulevard office.

Girardi told his partners the property, worth at least $7.5 million, was unencumbered, the complaint says. But the plaintiffs said Girardi has taken out loans and liens estimated at $7.46 million with Nano Banc.

Keese and the other plaintiffs also claim they did not receive $315,000 over the years to compensate for taxes they paid on the property, as agreed to in their contract.

Girardi's actions "massively reduced the equitable value of the plaintiffs' interest in 'The Property. This was also a conversion and theft of partnership assets," wrote attorney Andre Retke, who represents the plaintiffs. Keese et al. v. Girardi et al., 2OSTCV47657 (LA County Sup. Ct, filed Dec. 14, 2020).

In a second lawsuit, for breach of contract and conversion, Keese claims he is owed $506,876 because Girardi has stopped making bimonthly payments since Nov. 3 for the continued use of his goodwill and name. Keese v. Girardi, 20OSTCV47715 (LA County Sup. Ct, filed Dec. 14, 2020).

Retke could not be reached for comment Thursday.

Girardi's problems come after a career in which he has wielded clout after winning major trial victories and becoming a celebrity because one of his big cases became a successful film, "Erin Brockovich."

He was appointed last year by Gov. Gavin Newsom to a regional committee to help vet state judicial applicants. And he's been a longtime fixture at the Consumer Attorneys of California events, where he often helped provide the entertainment at the organization's annual dinner.