By a Staff Writer

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Patrick Murphy on Friday became a pro per plaintiff in his suit against two lawyers, after Orange Superior Court Judge Robert Monarch released the attorney who had been representing Murphy.

Monarch's clerk, Pam Gale, said he granted attorney Thomas Dovidio's motion to be relieved in Murphy v. Ottosi, in which the jurist accused two lawyers of secretly recording his phone conversations.

In his complaint against Encino attorney Paul Ottosi and Newport Beach attorney Paul Jacobs, Murphy called the alleged tapes a "substantial factor" that led to the filing of two federal lawsuits against him.

Gale added that no further hearings have been set in the case.

Dovidio, a Diamond Bar sole practitioner, has now been relieved from representing Murphy in three cases involving the jurist.

Bankruptcy Judge Thomas B. Donovan on Wednesday granted his motion to be relieved as counsel in a suit by the bankruptcy trustee for Dr. George Taus, a close friend of the judge. No trial has been set in the trustee's suit.

Senior U.S. District Judge Wm. Matthew Byrne Jr. last month permitted Dovidio to withdraw as Murphy's attorney in a fraud lawsuit filed against Murphy, Taus, Ottosi and others by Smith Barney Inc. and Prudential Securities Inc.

Byrne on Thursday ordered Dovidio to appear before him at this afternoon's pretrial conference to answer questions about who will represent Murphy in the suit, which accuses Murphy of helping Taus "launder" funds to which the doctor's ex-wife, Susan Taus, was entitled as a result of a marital settlement agreement.

The suit is set for trial April 11.

Ottosi has claimed that Murphy arranged to have more than $1.7 million delivered to him to hold in his attorney trust account before telling him to pay it to someone else. He has said he was brought unwillingly into the matter by Murphy.

For his part, the former Citrus Municipal Court jurist has denied any wrongdoing, claiming that other defendants in the securities firms' suit are making him the scapegoat.

Murphy has also been charged by the Commission on Judicial Performance in relation to his nearly two-year absence from the bench. He has continued to receive his judicial salary during that time.