Girardi creditor objects to trustee hiring more costly lawyers

Attorneys for one of suspended plaintiffs' attorney Thomas V. Girardi's creditors are objecting to the bankruptcy trustee hiring another law firm to investigate litigation lenders who lent his firm money.

Elissa D. Miller, a partner with SulmeyerKupetz APC, filed a motion last month asking U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Barry Russell of Los Angeles to approve the hiring of Girard Sharp LLP to look into the possible misuse of assets.

But lawyers for the family of a man who was badly burned in the San Bruno explosion and is owed money by Girardi argued in a motion last week that Miller is already spending enough money tracking down the assets of Girardi Keese.

Adding another firm, and paying partners as much as $975 an hour, is excessive, wrote attorney Indira J. Cameron-Banks, who represents the family.

"We didn't file it to grandstand. We filed it because the Girardi Keese client victims deserve at least some chance of recovery before more attorneys drain assets from the Girardi Keese bankruptcy estate," she wrote in an email Friday.

In the objection, Cameron-Banks and attorney Kathleen P. March wrote that Miller already has hired many professionals, from counsel to the trustee, to special litigation counsel Ronald N. Richards on a contingency fee basis to pursue assets transferred to Girardi's wife, Erika, and to forensic accountants.

Cameron-Banks and March wrote that Girard Sharp's "exorbitant hourly rate" will create an incentive to generate fees in a "long and inefficient investigation that may never lead to litigated claims and could easily drain the estate's assets."

Miller wrote in an email Friday that she would respond to the objection soon. In re: Girardi Keese, 20-BK21022 (C.D. Bankruptcy Ct filed Dec. 18, 2020).

But a Friday afternoon filing in another Girardi bankruptcy case suggested tracking down his assets remains a difficult task.

In Girardi's personal bankruptcy case, Timothy J. Yoo -- an attorney with Levene, Neale, Bender, Yoo & Golubchik LLP who represents Trustee Jason M. Rund -- filed a motion arguing Girardi has been hiding assets.

Yoo wrote that "many of the items" listed on Girardi's 2020 financial statement totaling more than $262 million "cannot be found or located." He moved for a denial of discharge of bankruptcy on the grounds that Girardi has transferred or concealed assets. In re: Thomas V. Girardi, 20-BK21020 (C.D. Bankruptcy Ct., filed Dec. 18, 2020).

Miller's own firm filed a motion Friday seeking to be appointed as special litigation counsel to pursue Girardi Keese assets and handle litigation after the trustee "identified numerous transfers of interests of property of the estate to third parties, which may constitute avoidable transfers."

Daniel C. Girard, a partner with Girard Sharp -- best known for its work handling plaintiffs' class actions -- could not be reached for comment.

Richards, noting that the Ruigomez family already had to hire attorneys of their own to collect money from Girardi, said the hiring of Girard Sharp is appropriate given the large scope of the case.

"The suggestion by a creditor who already has a secured lien, and who would benefit from the lender liens being reduced or set aside, that the Trustee already has enough professionals, is poorly reasoned and without any foundation whatsoever," he wrote in an email Friday.

"I hope they are not actually spending more of their money on these type of objections," Richards added. "The motives for the objection are inexplicable."

No hearing date has been set for Miller's application to hire Girard Sharp and the Ruigomez family's objection.