End of the Month

Former Nixon Peabody Partner Gets Seven Years in Prison for Obstructing SEC Probes Into Client...State Bar Dues Bill Sent to Governor After Amendment Making Legal Services Fee Voluntary Added...Brown Signs Rape Impersonation, Protective Order Bills

Judges, Lawyers Under Scrutiny

David Tamman
Suspended Attorney

Tamman, a former securities partner at Nixon Peabody LLP, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Philip Gutierrez of the Central District of California Sept. 23 to seven years in prison for obstructing two Securities and Exchange Commission investigations.
The Santa Monica resident was convicted on Nov. 13 of last year in U.S. District Court of all 10 counts of an indictment charging him with trying to prevent the SEC from discovering that his client was running a Ponzi scheme.
Following a two-week bench trial, Tamman was found guilty of one count of conspiring to obstruct justice, five counts of altering documents, one count of being an accessory after the fact to his client’s mail and securities fraud crimes, and three counts of aiding and abetting the client’s false testimony before the SEC.
The client, former fund manager and radio personality John Farahi, was sentenced to 10 years in prison earlier this year for running the scheme, which involved false promises that investors’ money—more than $24 million was collected, prosecutors said—would be invested in corporate bonds backed by the Troubled Assets Relief Program.
Tamman, who had left the firm while the SEC was investigating, sued Nixon Peabody in Los Angeles Superior Court in 2011. He contended that he was “thrown under the bus” by the firm, so that his partners could get their hands on his $1.5 million book of business.
The firm explained, in a press release issued at the time the suit was filed, that it fired Tamman “as soon as we learned that he was under SEC investigation and he failed to explain his actions to us,” adding that the firm “has acted completely appropriately in cooperating with the SEC on this issue.” Greenberg Traurig, which Tamman joined after leaving Nixon Peabody, publicly fired him after he was charged civilly by the SEC, saying he had not disclosed the situation to them when he was hired.
Tamman’s lawsuit was stayed by Judge Maureen Duffy-Lewis, pending the outcome of the federal prosecution.
Tamman’s interim suspension from the State Bar took effect Feb. 18. An additional suspension for not paying bar dues took effect July 2.

Sergio Jose Lopez
Santa Ana Attorney

Lopez, who was convicted of attempting to dissuade a witness from testifying, was then granted a new trial by a Los Angeles Superior Court judge who, in short order, dismissed the charge, and was again put under the gun by the Court of Appeal which reinstated the charge, but was granted a rehearing, now faces a retrial.
Lopez, originally charged with beating his girlfriend and terrorizing her with a firearm, among other things, was convicted of attempting to dissuade her from testifying, a felony, and willful disobedience of a stay-away order, a misdemeanor.
On the misdemeanor count, Lopez was sentenced to 241 days in county jail, but received credit for time served. Judge Tia Fisher granted a new trial on the felony count, based on her independent assessment of the evidence, then dismissed the charge on double jeopardy grounds.
The Court of Appeal reversed, saying the defendant waived double-jeopardy protection by moving for a new trial.

John Haw
Suspended Attorney

The State Bar Court recommended Aug. 12 that Haw be summarily disbarred.
He did not oppose the recommendation.
Haw, an attorney and former construction manager for Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena, reported this month to a halfway house in San Pedro to serve a six-month sentence on two counts of mail fraud based upon his participation in an illegal kickback scheme.
Haw was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Percy Anderson of the Central District of California following his Nov. 21 plea of guilty.
Prosecutors said Haw paid more than $56,000 to an entity controlled by Huntington’s then-director of construction, David Hamedany, who was previously sentenced to three years in prison.
He must also pay $55,000 in restitution.
Haw’s conviction resulted in an interim suspension effective Feb. 18, which was stacked on top of a 2012 suspension for failure to pay dues.

Judiciary: Vacancies, Appointments

Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals

President Obama on Aug. 1 nominated Michelle T. Friedland and John B. Owens to serve as judges of the court. Both are litigation partners at Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP, Friedland in San Francisco and Owens in Los Angeles.
If confirmed by the Senate, Friedland will fill a judgeship vacant since April 1, when Judge Raymond C. Fisher assumed senior status. Owens would fill a judgeship vacant since Dec. 31, 2004, when Judge Stephen Trott assumed senior status.
Friedland, 41, is a former lecturer at Stanford Law School, from which she graduated in 2000.
Owens, 41, is a former federal prosecutor in Los Angeles and San Diego, where he headed the Criminal Division before joining Munger Tolles last year.

There are no current vacancies, but Judge Gary Feess is taking senior status on March 13 of next year.

There are no vacancies.

First District

Presiding Justice James Marchiano retired from Div. One March 15.

Second District

Justice Orville Armstrong retired from Div. Five July 31.
Justice Kathryn Doi Todd retired from Div. Two on Jan. 22. Justice Paul Coffee retired from Div. Six on Jan. 31 of last year.

Third District

There has been a vacancy since Tani Cantil-Sakauye became chief justice in January 2011. Those whose names have been sent to the Commission on Judicial Nominees Evaluation reportedly include San Joaquin Superior Court Judge George Abdallah and Sacramento Superior Court Judges Thadd Blizzard, Helena Gweon, David Abbott, David DeAlba and Kevin Culhane.

Seats in other districts are filled.

Los Angeles Superior Court

There is a vacancy in a position that the Legislature authorized but has never funded.
Judge Dewey L. Falcone retired May 8 and died Aug. 15. Still vacant are the seats last held by Judges Joseph DeVanon Jr, who retired this past Jan. 31; Phillip Hickok, who retired Feb. 4; Jan Greenberg Levine, who retired Feb. 13; and Dudley Gray, who retired Feb. 19.
Also vacant are the seats of Judges John S. Fisher, who retired Feb. 22; Peter Meeka, who stepped down March 29; Richard Adler, who left April 1; Stephanie Sautner and Linda K. Lefkowitz, both of whom retired April 5; Diane Wheatley, who retired April 16; Beverly Reid O’Connell, who joined the federal bench April 30; and John Reid, who retired June 2. There are still three vacancies resulting from the conversion of commissioner positions to judgeships.
Four judges are currently on assignment at this district’s Court of Appeal. Judge Sanjay T. Kumar is sitting in Div. Five through October, Judge Edward Ferns in Div. Two and Judge John Segal in Div. Seven through November, and Judge Joanne B. O’Donnell in Div. Six through December.
Among those whose names have been sent to the JNE Commission as possible judicial appointees to the court are Deputy District Attorneys Candace Foy Smith, Leonard Torrealba, Kathleen Tuttle and Brentford Ferreira; State Bar Court Judge Richard Honn; Superior Court Commissioners Robert Kawahara, Alan Rubin, Emma Castro, Jane Godfrey, Sharon Lewis Miller, Mark Zuckman, David Cowan, Dennis Mulcahy and Kenneth Taylor; Referee Terry Truong; Deputy County Counsel Julie Ann Silva; Deputy Public Defenders Enrique Monguia, Lee W. Tsao and Johan ElFarrah; Glendale attorney Kenneth Wright; Court of Appeal staff attorneys Kenneth E. Roberson and Kim Nguyen; Los Angeles attorneys Timothy Martella and Angel Navarro; and Assistant U.S. Attorney Wesley Hsu.
The name of Ed Chau was sent to the commission prior to his election to the state Assembly.

Legislation of Interest to the Legal Community

The Legislature took the following action on bills of interest to the legal community in September.

•AB 65, by Assemblymembers Katcho Achadjian, R-San Luis Obispo, and Bonnie Lowenthal, D-Los Angeles, which would extend the rape-by-impersonation statute to include one who deceives the victim into believing the defendant is the victim’s fiancé, fiancée, or cohabitant. The bill was signed by the governor Sept. 9.

•AB 140 by Assemblymember Roger Dickinson, D-Sacramento, which would supplement the definition of “undue influence” in both the Probate Code and the criminal elder abuse statutes. The bill passed the Assembly May 16 by a vote of 57-10 and was sent to the Senate, where it passed with amendments Sept. 11 by a vote of 36-0. The Assembly concurred in the Senate amendments that day by a vote of 77-0. The bill was enrolled and presented to the Governor Sept. 25.

•AB 157 by Assemblymember Nora Campos, D-San Jose, which would allow a court issuing a protective order against domestic violence or harassment to include a provision barring the defendant from impersonating the plaintiff, operative July 1, 2014. The bill was signed by the governor Sept. 9.

•AB 161 by Campos, which would specifically authorize a court in a domestic violence proceeding to issue an ex parte order restraining any party from cashing, borrowing against, canceling, transferring, or disposing of, or changing the beneficiaries of any insurance or other coverage held for the benefit of the parties and their child or children, if any, for whom support may be ordered. The bill was signed by the governor Sept. 9.

•AB 176 by Campos, which would provide that where there are both civil and criminal protective or restraining orders regarding the same parties in effect, the more restrictive order takes precedence, whereas under current law, the criminal order takes precedence. The bill was signed by the governor Sept. 9.

•AB 184 by Assemblymember Mike Gatto, D-Burbank, which would establish an extended statute of limitations in which to prosecute hit-and-run cases. The bill passed the Assembly May 29 by a vote of 76-0. As amended in the Senate Sept. 3, the bill’s delayed-discovery provision, which had been open-ended, will not permit prosecution more than six years after the offense is committed. The amended bill passed the Senate Sept. 9 by a vote of 37-0, then was sent back to the Assembly, where the amendments were concurred in Sept. 10 by a vote of 78-0. The bill was enrolled and presented to the governor Sept. 19.

•AB 307, by Campos, which would expand the list of crimes that may result in a 10-year protective order, in addition to penalties provided by law upon conviction, to include specified sex crimes, including rape, spousal rape, and crimes for which a person is required to register as a sex offender. The bill passed was signed by the governor Sept. 9.

•AB 566, by Assemblymember Bob Wieckowski, D-Fremont, which would limit the ability of trial courts to contract out services previously performed by employees. The bill passed the Assembly May 30 by a vote of 51-25 and was sent to the Senate, where it was amended to create a sunset date of Jan. 1, 2020. Additional amendments were approved on Sept. 6 and Sept. 11, and the bill passed as amended Sept. 12 by a vote of 22-12. Senate amendments were concurred in by the Assembly Sept. 12 by a vote of 45-26, and the bill was enrolled and presented to the governor Sept. 25.

•AB 1401, by the Assembly Judiciary Committee, which, as amended in the Senate June 10, would allow aliens who are lawful permanent residents to serve on juries. The bill, which passed the Assembly April 25 by a vote of 45-26, passed the Senate Aug. 19 by a vote of 25-11, and was sent back to the Assembly, which concurred in the amendments by a vote of 48-28 Aug. 22. It was enrolled and presented to the governor Sept. 9.

•SB 59, by Sen. Noreen Evans, D-Santa Rosa, which, as introduced, would extend the rape-by-impersonation statute to include one who deceives the victim into believing the defendant is the victim’s “intimate sexual partner.” As amended in the Senate Feb. 14, the bill would be expanded to other crimes involving sodomy, oral copulation, and sexual penetration and would apply to any person who impersonates the victim’s “sexual partner,” defined as any individual with whom the victim has had consensual sexual contact. The bill was signed by the governor Sept. 9.

•SB 315, by Sen. Ted Lieu, D-Torrance, which would expand the circumstances under which a party in a civil case may appear by telephone to include all conferences, hearings, and proceedings other than trials or trial readiness conference. The court could still order personal appearances on a hearing-by-hearing basis. The bill passed the Senate May 20 by a vote of 36-0 and was sent to the Assembly, where a Judiciary Committee hearing set for Aug. 13 was canceled at the request of author.

•SB 345, by Sen. Noreen Evans, D-Santa Rosa, which would set State Bar dues for next year in the current amount. The bill passed the Senate May 16 by a vote of 37-0. It was amended in the Assembly Sept. 3 to provide that members may opt out of an additional $30 fee for the support of nonprofit legal organizations. As amended, it passed the Assembly Sept. 11 by a vote of 72-1. The Senate on Sept. 12 concurred in the amendments 37-0. The bill was enrolled and presented to the governor Sept. 20..

•SB 463, by Sen. Fran Pavley, D-Calabasas, which would extend to Jan. 1, 2017, the sunset date of the law allowing judges imposing determinate sentences to select the lower, middle, or upper base term. The bill passed the Senate May 29 by a vote of 38-0, passed the Assembly Sept. 11 by a vote of 78-0, with amendments that were concurred in by the Senate the same day, 39-0, and was enrolled and presented to the governor Sept. 20.

•AJR 1, by Assemblymember Mike Gatto, D-Burbank, which would request that a federal constitutional convention be convened to consider an amendment that would overturn the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision, limit corporate personhood, and allow limitations on spending for political purposes. The resolution was sent to the inactive file Sept. 11.