9th circuit bk case
Posted: Tue Jun 09, 2015 10:06 am
http://www.metnews.com/sos.cgi?0615//13-17381
Attorney repped and sat on board of corp which paid him $5k per month and entrusted $25k to him for legal defense fund. Corp was a medical marijuana dispensary. Attorney abruptly resigned from board and took the $25k in 2006. Corp sued him in state court in 2008. Jury found for plaintiff to the tune of $318k and he filed BK in 2010.
Corp brought adversary proceeding to deny the discharge. Debtor argued that plaintiff corp (on whose board he sat and from whom he took cash payments) had unclean hands and therefore absconding with the trust fund money was okay. Amazingly, bk court agreed and district court affirmed. Ninth Circuit reversed, saying doctrine of unclean hands has a balancing test and debtor/attorney was dirtier than the corp. Contains a good discussion of the use of unclean hands as a defense.
He was suspended from the state bar in 2013 and in 2014 for failure to pay fees. The state bar got around to disbarring him in 2014!
If you have any questions or concerns, please contact you California State Bar.
Pat
Patrick T. Green
Attorney at Law
Fitzgerald & Green, Attorneys at Law
1010 E. Union St. Suite 206
Pasadena, CA 91106
Tel: (626) 449-8433
Fax: (626) 449-0565
pat@fitzgreenlaw.com
We are a debt relief agency. Where appropriate, we help people file for bankruptcy relief under the Bankruptcy Code.
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