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LOS ANGELES (CNS) - A prominent law firm has obtained a judgment of more than $1 million against former Assemblyman Matthew Dababneh, who allegedly owed the firm fees and costs associated with filing a defamation suit against a woman who accused the ex-lawmaker of sexual assault.
On Thursday, Los Angeles Superior Court Wendy Chang confirmed an arbitrator's award of $930,930 to the firm of Glaser, Weil, Fink, Howard, Avchen & Shapiro LLP. Chang also added attorneys' fees, interest and costs for a total of $1.050 million. No one appeared at the hearing on Dababneh's behalf.
"The court may not vacate or correct the award as the petition is unopposed," Chang wrote.
Attorney Patricia L. Glaser, whose clients include Fortune 500 companies, major studios, real estate investors and developers, financial institutions and high-profile entertainers and public figures, is among the members of the Glaser Weil law firm.
According to the petition filed in February 2023, Glaser Weil represented the former Woodland Hills politician during an assembly committee investigation into Sacramento lobbyist Pamela Lopez's allegations against him as well as Dababneh's subsequent civil action against his accuser.
Dababneh, a 43-year-old Democrat, was elected in January 2014 and resigned in January 2018, telling The Los Angeles Times, "My stepping down isn't out of guilt or out of fear. It's out of an idea that I think it's time for me to move on to new opportunities."
In her January 2023 decision, arbitrator Barbara Reeves found that Glaser Weil's representation of Dababneh in the two matters "required considerable legal skill and time" and the firm "litigated every issue from the pleading stage, through discovery and motions."
Lopez alleged Dababneh sexually assaulted her in January 2016 in a hotel suite bathroom at a friend's pre-wedding celebration in Las Vegas, but Dababneh maintained he only said "hello" to Lopez and called her allegations "false and malicious," according to Reeves.
In June 2018, the state Assembly Rules Committee sent Dababneh a letter stating that its investigation "substantiated" Lopez's allegations, finding that it was "more likely than not that the facts alleged did occur" and that his conduct violated the Assembly's sexual harassment policy, according to Reeves, who further said Dababneh eventually reached a settlement with the committee of subsequent legal proceedings.
Following extensive litigation in the defamation case, a state appellate court panel directed a trial judge to grant Lopez's anti-SLAPP motion and dismiss the lawsuit, according to Reeves.
The state's anti-SLAPP -- Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation -- law is intended to prevent people from using courts, and potential threats of a lawsuit, to intimidate those who are exercising their First Amendment rights.
While Dababneh "did not prevail as he had hoped," the courts look to the facts and circumstances at the time the fee agreement was made, Reeves wrote.
"The fairness of a fee agreement is not typically examined by hindsight," according to Reeves. "At the time the engagement letter and amendment were entered into, Glaser Weil explained the risks and potential high expenses of pursuing the matters to Mr. Dababneh, and Mr. Dababneh signed the engagement letter and amendment."
Dababneh did not take part in the arbitration and did not contest the reasonableness of the fees sought, Reeves wrote.