Richard A. Windom
Attorney

Widom, until recently a name partner at the workers’ compensation firm now known as Stockwell Harris Woolverton Muehl, was found not guilty of two misdemeanor charges by a Los Angeles Superior Court jury on Feb. 3

The jury acquitted Widom of one misdemeanor count of inflicting injury on a spouse and one misdemeanor count of spousal battery. The alleged victim was Lisa Kerner, a lawyer at Stockwell Harris whom Widom is in the process of divorcing.

The acquittal came one week after Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Louis M. Meisinger dismissed a civil suit by Kerner against Widom, finding her testimony unworthy of belief.

Widom said Kerner “made up this whole story about domestic violence after she attacked me” when he told her their less-than-four-year-old marriage was over and that she needed to move out of his home. Kerner remains one of Stockwell Harris’ vice presidents, but Widom was terminated and entered solo practice.

He has been pursuing a lawsuit against the firm since June, contending it used the criminal charges as a pretense to fire him and deprive him of $4 million on deposit in a deferred-compensation plan..

Harvey Silberman
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge

Orange Superior Court Judge Richard M. King last month dismissed charges that Silberman and two political consultants solicited bribes, but declined to throw out related charges of solicitation to induce a candidate not to run for public office. The charges stem from the 2008 contest in which Silberman defeated Deputy District Attorney Serena Murillo for an open seat on the court.

Lori Ann Jones
Los Angeles Superior Court Commissioner

Jones, a court commissioner since March 2006, was placed on paid administrative leave Sept. 18 of last year following the release of grand jury transcripts in which she testified to having conveyed to then-judicial candidate Serena Murillo a suggestion that funds would be available to pay Murillo’s filing fee in the event she were willing to seek election to a judicial office other than that sought by then-Commissioner Harvey Silberman. Jones said she made the call as an accommodation to Evelyn Jerome Alexander, a campaign consultant who was representing Silberman at the time and who later represented Jones.

Mervyn H. Wolf
Encino Attorney

Wolf, a lawyer for 40 years, is scheduled to have a pretrial conference March 10 on five felony embezzlement counts. The case had been scheduled for trial Jan. 27 before Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Bob Bowers Jr., but was continued.

Wolf is accused of having taken settlement funds from his clients in multiple personal injury, workers’ compensation, and wrongful termination cases between June 2003 and June 2004. He allegedly deposited settlement checks into his clients’ trust accounts, and then embezzled the funds.

Wolf was placed on involuntary inactive status by the State Bar Court July 10, 2006 and faces 23 disciplinary charges, including failure to deposit funds into a trust account, receiving an illegal fee, charging an unconscionable fee, failure to account for client funds, failure to release a client’s file, failure to pay client funds promptly, failure to account for client funds, conversion of funds sent to him by mistake, and multiple counts of failure to maintain funds in a trust account, misappropriation of client funds and failure to cooperate in State Bar investigations.

Richard I. Fine
Disbarred Attorney

Fine, whose efforts to free himself from coercive imprisonment for contempt of court have been rebuffed at just about every level of the state and federal courts, has now turned to the judge who sent him to jail in the first place.

Fine has been confined to the Twin Towers jail since being held in contempt March 4 of last year by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge David Yaffe. Yaffe ordered Fine jailed for as long as he refuses to respond to questions asked at a judgment debtor examination, and jailed for five days for holding himself out as entitled to practice law after being placed on involuntary inactive status by the State Bar Court.

The judgment debtor exam is part of an effort to collect sanctions imposed on Fine by Yaffe in the case of Marina Strand Colony II Homeowners Assn vs. County of Los Angeles, BS109420. Fine argued Yaffe should have disqualified himself from the outset of the case because he, like apparently every other Los Angeles Superior Court judge, has received benefits from the county over and above his state salary.

Yaffe said the argument, whether meritorious or not, was waived because Fine was aware of the payments at least 10 months before he raised the issue. On Jan. 27, Fine filed a “Demand For Immediate Release From LA County Jail, And Other Relief.” In it, he demanded that Yaffe free him from custody on the ground that there is “no substantial likelihood” further imprisonment will induce him to answer questions, citing In Re Farr, 36 Cal.App.3d 577, 584 (1974).

Mitchell Roth
Former Superior Court Candidate

Roth, a candidate for the Los Angeles Superior Court in 2004, has filed for personal bankruptcy, stalling a lawsuit filed by Attorney General Jerry Brown July 6 of last year. The attorney general charged Roth and foreclosure consultant Paul Noe Jr. with having defrauded some 2,000 desperate homeowners into paying exorbitant fees for “phony lawsuits” to forestall foreclosure proceedings.

Noe did not answer the complaint, and a spokesman for Brown said a default judgment was being sought.

The complaint alleges that the suits were filed and abandoned, even though homeowners were charged $1,800 in upfront fees, at least $1,200 per month and contingency fees of up to 80 percent of a home’s value.

The Los Angeles Superior Court assumed jurisdiction over Roth’s law practice in February, allowing the State Bar to take control of his Sherman Oaks, San Diego and Riverside law offices. The State Bar said Roth had been hospitalized due to severe depression, leaving several clients in foreclosure defense litigation cases subject to losing their homes and facing eviction.

Roth did not contest the takeover of his practice or the State Bar’s subsequent motion to place him on involuntary inactive status, which was granted by State Bar Court Judge Richard Honn last April 23. Roth tendered his resignation from the State Bar on May 29 rather than face disciplinary charges.

LaJetta Y. Wright
Long Beach Attorney

Wright, a former treasurer of the Black Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles, was placed on one year’s probation Feb. 2. She pled guilty July 29 to charges she embezzled $26,000 from the group in 2004.

Sentencing was delayed to this month, enabling Wright to complete 246 hours of community service, pay a $3,000 fine and pay restitution. Judge David Horwitz reduced the offense from a felony to a misdemeanor at the time of sentencing, which could result in the vacating of Wright’s interim suspension from the State Bar, which took effect last month.

Wright spent one year on involuntary inactive status with the State Bar in 2007-2008 as a result of the charges.

Walter Loustari
La Canada Attorney

Loustari, a 58-year-old Glendale resident, faces sentencing Wednesday after pleading no contest Jan. 22 to felony charges of possessing child pornography and an assault rifle.

Prosecutors said Loustari, who faces a maximum of three years and eight months in prison after entering the “open”—non-negotiated—plea, was charged after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, along with the Glendale Police Department, investigated him as part of Operation Predator, in which ICE works with local agencies to investigate child pornography throughout the United States.