Erika Jayne‘s husband, Thomas Girardi, is being accused of fraud in a new lawsuit.
According to a report, the Law Offices of Robert P. Finn have filed a case against the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills husband, accusing him and his law firm, Girardi & Keese, of fraud, breach of contract, and breach of fiduciary duty.
In court documents obtained by The Blast on September 30, it is noted that Thomas and the Plaintiff entered into an agreement in 2008 and 2009 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.”
After the agreement was made, the Plaintiff referred clients to Thomas and his firm as the two firms agreed to represent the clients as a team and split their fees 50/50. It was also reportedly agreed that the Plaintiff would be paid back for all the money spent.
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 lawsuit claimed, adding that Thomas allegedly executed “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.”
After the settlement was uncovered, the Plaintiff claims Thomas and his firm presented them with excuse after excuse for why they hadn’t paid the money owed.
“Plaintiff has repeatedly asked Defendants to provide an accounting of the amounts owed under the fee splitting agreement, but Defendants have refused to provide the requested accounting. Defendants unfulfilled promises of payment have caused Plaintiff to believe that Defendants have already taken the attorneys fees from the settlement amount and retained for itself the 50% of the fees and costs owed to Plaintiff,” the lawsuit continued.
“Plaintiff is now informed and believes that Defendant may have misallocated and misappropriated funds by unlawfully claiming entitlement to reimbursement for purported costs that are either overstated, misstated, unlawful to claim as costs and/or that were used for the personal expenditures of Defendants, and Defendants have refused to provide any accounting that would allow Plaintiff to determine the amounts owed to Plaintiff,” the lawsuit documents stated.
The Law Offices of Robert P. Finn are suing Thomas for accounting, compensatory damages, and interest.
As RHOBH fans may know, Thomas has faced a slew of lawsuits in recent years, including a $3.5 million lawsuit from Stillwell Madison, who accused Thomas and his firm of failing to pay back a $5 million loan taken out in 2016 and instead using the funds to support Erika’s luxurious lifestyle.
Thomas was also faced with a $15 million loan from the Law Finance Group, which he settled at the end of last year.