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LOS ANGELES (CNS) - A judge has cleared attorney Mark Geragos, a fellow lawyer and his firm of any wrongdoing in a case brought by a former client who alleged the defendants did little on his behalf despite accepting nearly $30,000 to represent him in a criminal case.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Barbara M. Scheper issued her ruling Monday at the end of a non-jury trial of the lawsuit brought in November 2019 by plaintiff Armen Abelyan, who alleged Geragos and his firm, Geragos & Gergagos, as well as lawyer Setara Qassim were in violation of the state's Unfair Competition Law.
According to the suit, in November 2015 Mark Geragos and Qassim accepted $27,500 from Abelyan to represent the plaintiff in a criminal case.
"However, upon receiving plaintiff's funds, defendants failed to provide any legal services to plaintiff whatsoever," the suit stated. "Defendants never entered an appearance on behalf of plaintiff, never appeared in court on behalf of plaintiff, failed to return plaintiff's telephone calls and did not communicate with plaintiff regarding the case."
Abelyan's multiple requests for the return of his funds were denied, the suit alleged.
But in a sworn statement, Geragos said Abelyan's allegations were untrue.
"I fully intended to perform all my duties under any and all contracts I entered into," Geragos said. "I did perform more than what we were retained for and plaintiff was satisfied and in fact repeatedly wanted to retain (Geragos & Geragos) gain after we fulfilled our contract with plaintiff."
The 64-year-old Geragos and Qassim, who gave a declaration similar to that of Geragos, both testified in the trial on Friday.