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Ethics/Professional Responsibility,
Civil Litigation

Mar. 8, 2021

Class counsel in LA water bill case is sanctioned nearly $2 million

Despite San Fernando Valley personal injury attorney Michael J. Libman arguing his civil rights were being violated and that a conspiracy had been perpetrated against him, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Elihu M. Berle found the removed class counsel had not only engaged in a scheme with the city’s outside attorneys to defraud the court but attempted to cover it up.

While ordering nearly $2 million in disgorgement, sanctions and fines to an attorney involved in the Los Angeles water billing litigation last week, a judge said the attorney had paid an opposing lawyer for the city $500,000 for three weeks of work on an unrelated case around the same time the billing case settled without discovery.

Despite San Fernando Valley personal injury attorney Michael J. Libman arguing his civil rights were b...

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