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State Bar Recommends Disbarment of Lawyer Involved in DWP Billing Scandal Cases
By a MetNews Staff Writer
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MICHAEL J. LIBMAN attorney, on suspended status |
A State Bar Court judge has recommended the disbarment of Tarzana-based attorney Michael J. Libman for his role in the controversial class-action lawsuit relating to the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power billing scandal and his attempt to hack into personal accounts belonging to a Los Angeles Superior Court judge.
Judge Yvette Roland found the attorney culpable of all nine charges filed against him by the Office of Chief Trial Counsel, the Statye Bar announced yesterday.
That office filed an initial notice of disciplinary charges against Libman in March 2024, asserting that he had conspired with city lawyers to engineer a sham multi-million-dollar lawsuit and settlement with DWP relating to overcharges caused by a new billing system that was implemented by the utility in 2013.
DWP Matter
According to the charging document, Libman knew that the complaint in the DWP matter had been entirely drafted by an attorney representing the city in the lawsuit, now-disbarred New York attorney Paul Paradis, but filed it in Los Angeles Superior Court with his signature affixed to it. After the case was settled four months later, Libman filed a request for attorney fees.
His accompanying declaration identified experience working on 32 unrelated class action lawsuits when, in fact, neither Libman nor his firm worked on any of the cases. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Elihu Berle awarded Libman $1.65 million in fees; Berle later ordered the fees disgorged but Libman never returned the funds.
A second notice was filed against Libman in June. The sole charge alleged that Libman plotted to hire Israeli operatives working for an organization known as “Black Cube” to hack personal and professional email and phone accounts belonging to Berle and Brian Kabateck, the high-profile attorney assigned to replace Libman in the DWP matter after the conflicts of interest came to light.
Libman contends that his hacking efforts were justified as an effort to uncover “direct evidence” of a purported improper relationship between the jurist and the lawyer. No impropriety was ever discovered.
Egregious Ethical Violations
In the decision, dated Jan. 28, recommending disbarment to the California Supreme Court, Roland said:
“Libman’s misconduct is egregious and extensive, encompassing nine serious ethical violations, including acts of moral turpitude, false statements under oath, conflicts of interest, and repeated defiance of court orders. He knowingly acted as a figurehead attorney in a collusive scheme, submitted false declarations to secure $1.65 million in attorneys’ fees, and concealed relationships with opposing counsel. Even after exhausting appeals, Libman refused to return fees as ordered, compounding his misconduct. Beyond this, his deliberate efforts to compromise and access the court and private communications of a sitting judge (and Kabateck) undermines the administration of justice and demonstrates an extraordinary and calculated violation of ethical standards. His actions, rooted entirely in his role as an attorney, reveal a complete disregard for the responsibilities of the legal profession.”
Chief Trial Counsel George Cardona commented that “[a]s the Hearing Department found, disbarment is appropriate because Mr. Libman’s misconduct…reveal[s] a total disregard for his responsibilities as a lawyer.”
Tuesday’s decision provides that “Libman is ordered transferred to involuntary inactive status….effective three calendar days after this order is served.”
Libman was admitted to the practice of law in California in December 2002. He earned his J.D. from Southwestern.
Other figures mentioned in connection with the sham lawsuit, but neither indicted nor facing disciplinary charges, are then-City Attorney Michael Feuer and former Los Angeles County Bar Association President Paul Kiesel, who worked with Paradis. Feuer has insisted that he had no knowledge of what was transpiring—though Paradis has suggested to the contrary—and Kiesel has been cooperating with the authorities.
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