Disgraced attorney Tom Girardi still owes a client $11 million, 11 years after settling a settlement for horrific injuries he suffered in a gas explosion that also killed his girlfriend, a federal court in Los Angeles heard Wednesday.
Joe Ruigomez, 33, and his family hired the once-top lawyer to sue California utility giant PG&E after a 2010 pipeline explosion destroyed his San Bruno, California, home and left him in a coma for two months, he told the jury of seven men and five women on the second day of Girardi’s trial.
Three years later, Girardi and his family reached a settlement with PG&E in which Ruigomez would receive $5 million plus an annuity, he said.
And when Ruigomez asked to see the full settlement agreement, Girardi promised to send it to him. “But he never did.”
Tom Girardi arrives at the Los Angeles federal courthouse on August 7, 2024. A former client of Girardi, Joe Ruigomez, said the disgraced attorney still owes him $11 million from a 2010 settlement
The fake lawyer, who co-founded the now-bankrupt Girardi & Keese, appeared on the Bravo reality show Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, alongside Erika Jayne, his third wife
Girardi, 85 — the estranged husband of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Erika Jayne — is charged with four counts of wire fraud in which he allegedly bilked clients out of $15 million in settlement money they were owed for injuries they suffered. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
The former superlawyer — who appeared in court Wednesday wearing a gray jacket, blue plaid shirt with an open collar, black pants and white sneakers — built a high-powered law firm after his battle against a utility company inspired the Oscar-winning film Erin Brockovich.
But Girardi’s successful career came to an end in 2020 when he was accused of stealing millions in settlements he received for victims of the 2018 Lion Air plane crash in Indonesia.
Claims from that crash — which killed 189 people — are the basis for separate criminal charges against Girardi that are still pending in Chicago. He has pleaded not guilty to those charges as well.
Federal prosecutors in Los Angeles allege on the first day of his trial Tuesday that the disgraced lawyer — who faces up to 20 years in prison if found guilty — lied to his clients between 2010 and 2020 and used the embezzled millions he was awarded to fund his own lavish lifestyle of “private jets, luxury cars and expensive jewelry” with his third wife, 52-year-old former go-go dancer Jayne. He also paid $20 million to finance her acting career.
Jayne previously said she no longer speaks to her estranged husband. They are seen above in 2016
Girardi faces up to 20 years in prison if found guilty of embezzling millions from his clients
Meanwhile, Girardi’s lawyers allege that it was not their client but his law firm’s president, Christopher Kamon, 49, who plundered the victims’ settlement funds and embezzled some $50 million.
They allege that Kamon took advantage of Girardi’s dementia, which left him unable to oversee the business operations of his company.
Kamon has been charged with wire fraud, similar to Girardi’s, but is being tried separately. He is also accused of embezzling $10 million from Girardi’s law firm, Girardi Keese, which is now bankrupt with $100 million in debt. Kamon has pleaded not guilty to all charges he faces.
On Wednesday, Ruigomez, who walks with a limp after more than 30 surgeries following the explosion 14 years ago, told the jury in a downtown L.A. courthouse that he didn’t push Girardi harder to see a copy of the settlement agreement “because I trusted Tom. I had confidence in him.”
Both Ruigomez and his mother, Kathleen Ruigomez — who also testified Wednesday — told how they hired Girardi after he stunned them with his bragging about millions — even billions — of dollar settlements he had obtained against major corporations like Exxon, Lockheed, Shell and Ford.
“He bragged about Erin Brockovich and how much money he was making for his clients, and about his wife, who was a TV star,” said Ruigomez, who was also impressed by magazine covers and articles about Girardi’s thriving law practice.
Girardi’s defense attorneys argue that it was not their client but his law firm’s president, Christopher Kamon, 49, who plundered the victims’ settlement funds and embezzled some $50 million.
His mother, Kathleen, added: “Tom would talk about having lunch with presidents and judges. He would always brag about his connections.”
Ruigomez said Girardi — whose law firm sought a 25 percent success fee (meaning they charged no legal fees but received 25 percent of the settlement amount) — settled with PG&E in January 2013.
But a year later, he still had not received any money from Girardi Keese, who had placed his settlement money in a trust fund with interest at six and a half percent.
When he questioned Girardi about the delay, he said he was given “apologies and excuses” and claimed the payout had to be signed off by a judge who was reluctant to give a large sum of money to a young man who might not be able to handle it.
“Tom always flattered me, called me Babe and said he would take care of me,” Ruigomez told the court.
Nearly three years after the settlement, he had received only a fraction of $666,000 of the money he was owed. He was beginning to lose patience with Girardi’s excuses, until Ruigomez hired a financial advisor and demanded his money.
In 2019, he threatened legal action, prompting Girardi to make him multiple payments totaling $10 million, he said.
But including interest, he was owed much more, and he hired a lawyer, sued Girardi in civil court and was awarded $12 million in damages, the court heard.
Jayne seen with her ex-husband and son Tommy Zizzo when he was a child
One of the excuses Girardi used for not paying Ruigomez, the court heard, was that his family had told the lawyer not to pay because he had become addicted to painkillers after his long hospital stay following the explosion.
Girardi paid only $1 million of that amount, Ruigomez said. When asked by prosecutor Ali Moghaddas, “To this day, the defendant has not paid the remaining $11 million.”
Under cross-examination by defense attorney Sam Cross, Ruigomez admitted that $25 million of the $53 million settlement was used to purchase a Berkshire Hathaway annuity that will pay him $40,000 a month for the next 20 years.
But when Cross suggested that other attorneys at Girardi Keese, not just Girardi, were responsible for his case, he insisted, “Tom was the lead attorney.”
One of the excuses Girardi used for not paying Ruigomez, the court heard, was that his family had told the lawyer not to pay because he had become addicted to painkillers after his long hospital stay following the explosion.
“That is absolutely not true,” Ruigomez said.
Another of Girardi’s clients, Judy Selberg, hired the once-lauded attorney to file a wrongful death lawsuit after her husband Paul was killed in a boating accident on Lake Havasu, Arizona, in April 2018.
On Wednesday, Selberg told the jury in court that Girardi won a $500,000 settlement for her in March 2020, of which Girardi Keese received a 33 percent fee.
The half million was paid to the law firm in June 2020, but despite months of phone calls and email protests to Girardi, she did not receive her money. She eventually resorted to hiring another lawyer and was subsequently awarded $150,000.
But now, more than four years after the settlement, I still have not received a cent of the outstanding $185,000 she is owed.