$15 Million Wrongful Termination Suit Filed against the California Bar Association

The State Bar of California was recently named as a defendant in a $15 million wrongful termination lawsuit that alleges rampant incompetence and unethical practices in addition to the illegal firing.

This case, Oehler v. The State Bar of California et al., Case No. BC610699 was filed by a former administrative assistant at the Bar who claims to have been fired due to her knowledge about the ethical violations and incompetent leadership at the bar.

A Closer Look at the Allegations

According to court filings associated with this case, the plaintiff alleges that she was fired as retaliation because she was aware that the California State Bar had:

• Grossly mismanaged finances – One example provided was that the Bar had paid for four nights in a luxury hotel and approved about $30,000 in “unapproved expenses” when a director was sent to San Francisco for a three-hour hearing.
• Questionably altered a case backlog list – Specifically, these allegations contend that the Bar’s leaders would move cases to the “deferred” list (and later back to the active list) to make the backlog appear to be less than it actually was. The plaintiff alleges that this was similar to a “scam.”
• Ignored fraud complaints – In fact, the claim is that the Bar ignored hundreds of fraud complaints filed by Mexican workers who were reportedly the victims of citizenship scams. Additionally, the plaintiff alleges that the Bar failed to take any action against the unlicensed lawyers who were allegedly running these scams.
• Dismissed ethics complaints filed against leaders – A former chief prosecutor, Jayne Kim, is alleged to have dismissed complaints regarding her practices instead of sending them to a third party to investigate and resolve.

Some of these allegations and concerns have been raised by other former employees of the Bar, seeming to lend some credence to the plaintiff’s allegations.

In addition to seeking $10 million for compensatory damage related to her wrongful termination, the plaintiff is also requesting $5 million for punitive damages.

Representatives for the California State Bar have denied the allegations and explained that the Bar will defend itself in court.

As more news about this case becomes available, we’ll report the latest updates to you here in a future blog.

Contact a Los Angeles Wrongful Termination Law suite at the Azadian Law Group, PC.

If you have been the target of a wrongful termination, contact a Los Angeles wrongful termination attorney at the Azadian Law Group, PC, for a free case to review to find out more about your options for recovery and justice.

At the Azadian Law Group, PC, our lawyers exclusively represent employees and consumers – we never represent employers. This has endowed our attorneys with the experience, knowledge, insight and resources necessary to effectively represent our clients in any legal setting and bring their cases to favorable resolutions.

Call us at 626-449-4944 or send us an email via this contact form to find out more about how we can help you. If you choose to move forward with us, you will not have to pay us any legal fees until or unless compensation is secured for your case.