A former Los Angeles chief deputy metropolis lawyer is dealing with State Bar of California disciplinary costs Friday for alleged misconduct associated to the 2017 Department of Water and Power billing scandal.
James Patrick Clark of Los Angeles faces two costs of alleged misconduct associated to his position in secretly directing — then mendacity beneath oath about — a scheme of collusion, deceit and hid conflicts of curiosity supposed to allow the town of Los Angeles to settle ratepayer class actions on phrases favorable to the town and DWP, in line with the State Bar.
Clark faces two extra costs for allegedly accepting rock live performance tickets from one of many attorneys concerned within the collusion after which failing to report the reward, as required by legislation, on his monetary disclosure Type 700.
“As Chief Deputy Metropolis Lawyer for the town of Los Angeles, Mr. Clark occupied a place of public belief and had an obligation to behave actually and in compliance with all moral necessities,” George Cardona, State Bar chief trial counsel, mentioned in a press release.
“As a substitute, the (Discover of Disciplinary Fees) alleges that he directed and licensed a scheme of collusion and deceit that was a blatant betrayal of his duties as an lawyer and public official.”
In response to the discover, in or about February to March 2015 when he was serving as a high-level official within the Metropolis Lawyer’s Workplace, Clark met with attorneys Paul Paradis and Paul Kiesel, whom he knew represented the town of Los Angeles and DWP in a case towards PriceWaterhouseCoopers associated to the disastrous implementation of a brand new billing system for the DWP.
Clark licensed and directed the 2 attorneys to seek out outdoors counsel pleasant to the town to characterize Antwon Jones, a shopper of Paradis’, in a ratepayer class motion lawsuit towards the town and DWP. The purpose of the scheme was to make use of Jones’ class motion lawsuit as a automobile to shortly settle all ratepayer claims towards the town on the town’s desired phrases, in line with the State Bar.
The NDC additionally alleges that Clark lied when he submitted a declaration beneath penalty of perjury to the Los Angeles Superior Courtroom in June 2019 for the Metropolis of Los Angeles v. PwC case. In his declaration, Clark denied ever attending a February 2015 assembly at which he mentioned with Paradis, Kiesel, and others the plan to collude on the submitting of the Jones v. Metropolis lawsuit.
All the costs come up from litigation filed within the wake of DWP’s 2013 launch of a brand new billing system. The brand new system was a catastrophe, drastically overcharging some ratepayers, failing to invoice others, sending delayed payments, and failing to offer applicable refunds or credit, amongst different points. Because of points ensuing from the brand new billing system and the town’s failure to resolve ratepayer complaints, 4 class motion lawsuits had been filed towards the town and DWP in 2014 and 2015.
Paradis is currently serving a three-year sentence in federal prison for his half on this matter after cooperating with federal officers.
Thomas Peters, a former senior lawyer for the Metropolis Lawyer’s Workplace, was summarily disbarred in February following his felony conviction associated to the DWP billing scandal. Peters was sentenced to nine months of home detention final 12 months after pleading responsible to a federal extortion cost and agreeing to cooperate within the probe into the town’s dealing with of the botched launch of the DWP billing system.
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