Dec.
2025

A report on where
things
stand



Gilbert Departs Court of Appeal...Governor Places Ellenberg, Eisenman, Donovan Reed on L.A. Superior Court...Samuels Retires From LASC; Fujie, Killefer, Martella, Richman, Taylor Make Plans to Leave...Supreme Court Has Vacancy


Judges, Lawyers Under Scrutiny

John Charles Eastman
Suspended Attorney, Ex-Trump Advisor

Former Chapman University School of Law Dean John Charles Eastman on Sept. 29 filed with the California Supreme Court a petition for review of the State Bar Court’s June 13 recommendation—echoed on June 13 by the Review Department—that he be disbarred over his role in challenging the results of the 2020 presidential election on behalf of his then-client, President Donald Trump.

The State Bar’s answer to Eastman’s petition was filed Dec. 12. Eastman has been given until Feb. 13 to file a reply to the answer.

On Sept. 8, the State Bar filed its own petition for review. It is contesting the determination by State Bar Court Judge Yvette D. Roland that Eastman’s remarks at the “Save America Rally” in the District of Columbia on Jan. 6, 2021, were not geared to incite the storming of the Capitol on that date. Eastman answered the petition on Sept. 19 and the State Bar on Oct. 10 filed a reply.

The Review Department concluded that Eastman’s words “establish that he made false and misleading statements, but in no way does he tell the crowd ‘to assault and breach the Capitol’ ” as alleged in the notice of charges.

He was accused of 11 counts of misconduct. It was only Count 11—incitement of a riot—that Roland found unsupported. She determined that he lied to then-Vice President Michael Pence and to the public as to the vice president’s power to delay certification of the presidential election results.

The State Bar has ordered Eastman to pay $55,608.27 in costs.

Thomas V. Girardi
Disbarred Lawyer, Incarcerated Felon

Thomas V. Girardi

The opening brief in the appeal by Thomas V. Girardi of his August 2024 conviction on four counts of wire fraud was due Dec. 26 but on Dec. 19, his lawyer, Deputy Federal Public Defender Andrew B. Talai filed a motion for a 90-day extension of time, “to and including March 26, 2026” which, it was noted the government did not oppose.

Girardi, 86, is incarcerated. U.S. District Court Judge Josephine L. Staton of the Central District of California on Sept. 19 denied a motion by Thomas Vincent Girardi for release on bond pending appeal.

The charges stemmed from failing to pay clients the full amounts of settlement proceeds, perpetrating his crimes, according to the indictment, “by means of material false and fraudulent pretenses, representations, and promises, and the concealment of material facts” which he “had a duty to disclose.”

On June 3, Staton sentenced Girardi—once wealthy, now impecunious—to seven years and three months in prison.

The sentencing occurred on Girardi’s 86th birthday.

Staton ordered that Girardi make restitution in the amount of $2,310,247.26.

The anticipated release date is Aug. 1, 2031.

Brian Kabatech, Mark Gerogos
Attorneys

Thomas V. Girardi Thomas V. Girardi

More than three years have passed since the State Bar said in a Sept. 27, 2022 news release:

"The State Bar of California’s Board of Trustees Chair Ruben Duran announced today that the State Bar is investigating attorneys Mark John Geragos (State Bar No. 108325) and Brian Stephen Kabateck (State Bar No. 152054) in connection with the Armenian Genocide insurance settlement funds from which dispersals were made in the U.S. and France."

Under fire for its dereliction in failing to act on complaints about Tom Girardi until his dishonesty became manifest and widely reported by the news media, that announcement was made, possibly for sake of publicity. The move could backfire if the two are exonerated for a fourth time—or what would possibly be a fifth time as to Geragos.

The State Bar will not comment on what progress has been made. A spokesperson said on May 30 of last year, in response to a MetNews inquiry:

“At this time, we can provide no update beyond what was stated in our earlier September 27, 2022 release.”

Kabateck has attained multi-million dollar judgments and settlements; Geragos is a criminal defense lawyer whose clients have included Whitewater defendant Susan McDougal, former Rep. Gary Condit, actress Winona Ryder, and entertainer Michael Jackson.

Kabateck and Geragos obtained a $37.5 million settlement in separate actions against two insurers that failed to pay claims under life insurance policies issued to persons who were slain in the Armenian genocide. Prompted by Los Angeles Times articles suggesting that the lawyers mishandled funds, the State Bar is focusing on what happened to proceeds from a $17.5 million settlement with a French insurer in 2005.

While moneys are missing, the lawyers point out they had nothing to do with the distribution of the proceeds.

Geragos—who has said he will be suing the State Bar—remarked that the State Bar’s mention of Tom Girardi in its news release shows that “all they’re trying to do is deflect” attention from the debacle in failing to take action in response to decades of complaints about Girardi.

Kabateck asserted:

“This is a political stunt by the State Bar.”


Judiciary: Vacancies, Appointments


Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals

There are now no vacancies on the 29-member court.

No vacancies exist..


There is one vacancy. It was created by the retirement in October of Justice Martin Jenkins.

Court of Appeal

Second District

Arthur Gilbert announced last year that he would be retiring this year as presiding justice of Div. Six. He said in an interview, quoted in this newspaper in a profile in connection with his being honored as a 2024 MetNews “person of the year”:

“I think 50 years is enough.”

The half-century mark as a jurist was reached by him last Labor Day but Gilbert opted to remain in office until the end of the year. 

He noted in the interview that “[i]t’s beyond my ken to even believe that I would be on the court this long,” adding:

 “I can’t even believe how old I am.”

Born Dec. 29, 1937, in Los Angeles, he turned 88 on Monday.

There is an unfilled seat in Div. Two. Justice Judith Ashmann-Gerst retired Sept. 30.

Retired Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Sunjay Kumar is sitting pro tem in Div. Five. The assignment, which has been periodically extended, is scheduled to end Feb. 17.

Superior Court
Los Angeles County

Gov. Gavin Newsom on Dec. 22 announced the appointments of Los Angeles Commissioner Sarah J. Ellenberg, City of Los Angeles Department of Water & Power Assistant General Counsel Jonathan Eisenman, Musick, Peeler & Garrett partner Erin Donovan, and Erin Reed, a senior appellate attorney for this district’s Court of Appeal.

Judge Shellie Samuels’s last day on the bench was Dec. 5. She was appointed by then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2010.

Five Los Angeles Superior Court judges—Holly J. Fujie, Gail Killefer, Timothy Martella, Craig Richman, and Chestopher L. “Chet” Taylor—are planning to retire early next year.

Richman’s last day on the bench will be Friday. After using earned vacation days, he will officially depart Feb. 20.

Taylor will leave on Monday. His official retirement date will be Feb 20.

Fujie, Killefer, and Martella will actually leave their posts Jan. 9. The official dates are Feb. 28 for Fujie, Jan. 23 for Killefer, and Feb. 24 for Martella.  



 

 

 


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