'RHOBH' Star Erika Jayne's Husband Sued By A Widow For Fraud
By Ryan Naumann on October 29, 2020 at 9:37 AM EDT
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“Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” star Erika Jayne’s husband is facing more legal trouble and accused of stealing his former client’s money.
According to court documents obtained by The Blast, a woman named Judy Selberg is suing Thomas Girardi, his law firm Girardi & Keese, and another attorney named Alexa Galloway. She accuses the defendants of legal malpractice, breach of fiduciary duty, fraud, and conversion.
In the lawsuit, Judy says on April 21, 2018, her husband Paul was the victim of a boating accident at Lake Havasu in Arizona. The accident took his life.
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After her husband’s death, Judy hired Thomas and his firm to represent her in a wrongful death lawsuit she wanted to bring. Months later, the case was filed by Thomas in court.
In March 2020, the defendants in the lawsuit settled with Judy and agreed to pay $500,000. She says Thomas and the firm told her she was entitled to $296,394.55 from the settlement. Judy says this was not the right amount and was lower because Thomas “inappropriately’ increased the attorney fee from 33.3% to 40%.
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She says Thomas only paid her $50,000 from the settlement and has refused to pay her the remaining money owed. Judy is straight about her claims saying Thomas and the firm stole her money.
Judy says Thomas has caused her to have to hire another law firm to represent her. She says his actions have caused her emotional damages. The lawsuit is seeking the entire unpaid balance from the settlement. Further, she is seeking unspecified damages for Thomas’ negligence. Thomas has yet to respond to the lawsuit.
As The Blast previously reported, back in September, Thomas was hit with a separate lawsuit accusing him of fraud.
The Law Offices of Robert P. Finn filed a lawsuit against Thomas and his law firm Girardi & Keese. The suit accuses the defendants of fraud, breach of contract and breach of fiduciary duty.
The suit claims Thomas screwed over the law firm after they agreed to work together. Back in 2008 and 2009, the plaintiff says their law office entered into written retainer agreements with 1,524 individuals “who each retained Plaintiff to represent them in connection with claims arising from their or their loved one’s personal injuries sustained from exposure to toxic chemicals emanating from several TXI cement manufacturing facilities in California.”
The Law Office of Robert P. Finn says they referred all the clients to Thomas and his law firm. The two firms agreed to represent the clients together and split the fees 50/50.
The TXI cases were “ultimately resolved with a cash settlement, and Defendants received fees, 50% of which should have been held in trust for Plaintiff in addition to the amount owed by Plaintiff for costs. Rather than honoring their obligation under the contract to pay Plaintiff 50% of fees plus costs due Plaintiff, Defendants kept the money for themselves.”
The plaintiff accuses Thomas of executing, “a scheme to keep Plaintiff unaware that they had received fees from the TXI cases and prevented Plaintiff from learning that the money for fees and costs had been received by Defendants.”
The Law Offices of Robert P. Finn accuse Thomas and his firm of coming up with excuse after excuse for their non-payment. They sued for the unpaid balance plus unspecified damages.
