Tom Girardi owes $56.8m to law firms, lit funders and other creditors, trustee says
3/26/21 REUTERS LEGAL 21:06:54
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David Thomas
REUTERS LEGAL
March 26, 2021
The Stow family attorney Thomas Girardi delivers his closing argument in a civil trial in a lawsuit brought by his client San Francisco Giants fan Bryan Stow against former Los Angeles Dodgers owner Frank McCourt in Los Angeles, June 26, 2014. Closing arguments finished today and the jury is currently deliberating the verdict for the lawsuit brought by Stow who suffered brain damage after he was brutally beaten at Dodger Stadium in 2011 by two Dodgers fans. He is seeking $35 million from the team and its former owner, McCourt, who denied responsibility for any gaps in security that lead to the beating. REUTERS/Irfan Khan/Pool (UNITED STATES - Tags: SPORT BASEBALL CRIME LAW)
(Reuters) - Famed plaintiffs attorney Tom Girardi is on the hook for at least $56.8 million, according to the Chapter 7 trustee overseeing his estate.
In a 64-page report filed in Los Angeles bankruptcy court on Wednesday, Chapter 7 trustee Jason Rund of Sheridan & Rund, detailed the parties that have claims against the attorney, who was stripped of his law license earlier this month after a state court appointed his brother to manage his legal and financial affairs.
Girardi's creditors include other law firms and litigation funders. The report doesn't detail the circumstances surrounding the alleged debts. Rund and Robert Girardi's attorney in the proceedings, Leonard Penda, did not respond to requests for comment.
Litigation funder Virage Capital Management is listed as having a $9 million claim against Girardi, one of the largest listed in the report, for "litigation financing." The funder did not respond to a request for comment.
Girardi's wife, "Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" star and singer Erika Jayne, who filed for divorce last year, is also responsible for paying some of the claims, according to Rund's report.
The report comes at the end of a month that saw Girardi losing his license to practice after he was placed in a conservatorship and the disclosure of a California psychiatrist's report stating that Girardi has Alzheimer's disease.
That diagnosis has been challenged in Los Angeles County Superior Court by the California state bar and Edelson PC, the Chicago-based plaintiffs firm that sued Girardi in December, alleging he and Jayne stole $2 million in settlement funds from his clients.
Both the Edelson firm and the state bar have objected to Girardi being placed in a conservatorship under his brother Robert. They have called for a neutral medical evaluation of Tom Girardi and an evidentiary hearing.
Robert Girardi has argued in state court that neither the Edelson firm nor the bar has standing in the conservatorship proceedings, and that he is in the process of obtaining another physician.
The bankruptcy case is Thomas Vincent Girardi, U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California, 2:20-bk-21020.
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