Edelson’s Girardi Keese RICO Suit Transferred to Los Angeles
A federal judge in San Francisco rejected Thursday arguments by Edelson PC that the firm can’t get a fair hearing of its racketeering lawsuit against Girardi Keese in the bankrupt firm’s backyard of Los Angeles.
Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley of the US District Court for the Northern District of California questioned why the lawsuit was even filed in San Francisco. “There’s really no connection to this district,” the judge said.
The firm is the client, Edelson has offices in San Francisco, and “it was important to us that we litigated in a forum that is not tainted” by connections to Girardi Keese, said Edelson partner Eli Wade-Scott.
“We have not made many friends in the Central District with this case,” Wade-Scott said.
“Yeah, I saw that argument. So that’s not something that I can consider at all. And I’m not sure that it’s overblown,” the judge said, adding, “I don’t think that should be a concern at all.”
Having the case heard in the Central District of California isn’t convenient to plaintiffs, who don’t have an office there and would have to pay for local counsel based on Central District rules, Wade-Scott said.
The Northern District has the same rules, Scott Corley said. Further, the judge said, there has to be coordination with plaintiff Christopher Kamon, Girardi’s former chief financial officer who is in federal custody on pending wire fraud charges related to an alleged $10 million stolen from the firm. Kamon is being transferred from Maryland to the Central District for that case.
The court will issue a written ruling later Thursday, Scott Corley said.
Convenience, Nexus
Girardi Keese, principal Thomas Girardi, and their enablers operated a criminal enterprise that stole more than $100 million from clients, co-counsel, vendors, “and many others unfortunate enough to do business with the firm,” Edelson said in its complaint filed last July. Edelson was Girardi’s local co-counsel for clients in the litigation over the 2018 crash of Lion Air flight JT 610.
Counsel for former Girardi partner David Lira didn’t argue during the 30-minute hearing in which the Edelson partner tried to convince the court there was sufficient nexus to San Francisco to keep the case in the Northern District. Ryan Saba of Rosen Saba LLP, representing former associate Keith Griffin, noted the email that Edelson claimed Griffin sent to Lion Air clients wasn’t sent from the Northern District but was sent from Lake Tahoe, in the Eastern District of California. Wade-Scott said Griffin tried cases in the Northern District.
“Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” star Erika Girardi and EJ Global LLC, a California limited liability company whose sole member is Girardi’s ex-wife, also argued to dismiss or to send the case to the Central District for the convenience of parties and witnesses.
California Attorney Lending II, a litigation funding entity that provided money to Girardi Keese in exchange for a portion of settlement proceeds, likewise arguedEdelson failed to show a substantial part of the alleged wrongdoing occurred in the Northern District. Other defendants are George Hatcher, a non-lawyer “consultant” who was responsible for referring the families of air crash victims; Hatcher’s Wrongful Death Consultants; and Joseph DiNardo, owner of California Attorney Lending II Inc.
In December 2019, Edelson filed a separate suit against Girardi, Girardi Keese, and others to recoup its share of attorneys’ fees and to track down Boeing Co. settlement funds the LA firm still owes to several clients. That lawsuit led to Girardi creditors filing an involuntary Chapter 7 bankruptcy petition against the firm. Tom Girardi, who was declared incompetent, also was pushed into involuntary bankruptcy. Nearly three-quarters of a billion dollars in claims were filed with the combined bankruptcy estate.