The bankrupt Los Angeles law firm of Girardi Keese, famous for taking on high-profile class-action suits like that which served as the basis for the 2000 film “Erin Brockovich,” has auctioned off its property to pay off significant debts.
The proceeds will go to creditors and former clients of the firm—including those who have sued founding partner Tom Girardi for allegedly embezzling millions of dollars in settlement payouts. (Girardi was recently disbarred from federal courts in California in connection with those allegations.)
Beyond film adaptations of his legal work, Girardi is perhaps best known as the ex-husband to Erika Girardi, professionally known as “Erika Jayne,” a cast member of Bravo’s cable reality-TV series, “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.” The Girardis’ legal troubles have taken center stage in the show’s eleventh season, which is currently airing.
Journalist Justin Kloczko, who writes the Debaser newsletter on “power structures in Los Angeles” and participated in the joint Hulu-ABC News documentary on the Girardis, “The Housewife and the Hustler,” was monitoring the auction as part of his continued reporting on the Pasadena couple’s legal and financial issues.
Kloczko compiled a tongue-in-cheek accounting of some of the items sold at auction, along with their actual sale prices. The list included $7,600 for a Marc Chagall painting, $600 for a painted portrait of Tom Girardi and $350 for a strange neon light display overlaid on a blown up Super Lawyers magazine cover featuring the troubled attorney.
One presumably avid legal-history buff went home with the receipt Girardi received for the $263 million payout he won on behalf of families in Hinkley, California in the 1990s. The settlement arose from a class-action lawsuit against Pacific Gas & Electric for contaminating local groundwater. That story went on to serve as the basis for the “Erin Brockovich” script.
A disbarment determination for Girardi's practice in California courts is still pending with the State Bar of California.
A trustee overseeing bankruptcy proceedings at Girardi Keese said on Tuesday that the firm owes more than $100 million in liabilities. Its assets are estimated to be valued at about $4 million.
A California judge recently ruled that victims of Girardi’s alleged embezzlement may pursue repayment through his ex-wife, Erika Jayne, who has previously admitted on the record to spending $40,000 a month on clothes, cosmetics, and hair styling. It has been alleged that the Girardis pursued a divorce in order to hide assets with the former Mrs. Girardi, who reportedly received at least $20 million in cash from firm accounts through her entertainment company, EJ Global.