Dtla Law Firm Co-founder Faces California State Bar Charges For Alleged Out-of-state Practice

The California State Bar has charged a founding partner of Downtown LA Law Group, a rule patient astatine nan halfway of a ungraded that has embroiled Los Angeles County’s historical activity maltreatment settlement, pinch signing up dozens of clients successful states wherever nary of nan firm’s lawyers were licensed to practice.

The barroom charged Salar Hendizadeh, who near nan patient this fall, connected March 5 pinch helping 1 of Southern California’s largest individual wounded rule firms motion mishap victims crossed nan country, contempt lacking attorneys who could litigate nan cases successful different states. Hendizadeh was charged pinch eleven counts, including deceptive advertizing and charging forbidden fees.

State Bar Chief Trial Counsel George Cardona said successful a connection nan allegations, if proved, “represent dishonest and forbidden conduct.”

Hendizadeh and a spokesperson for Downtown LA Law Group did not supply a remark Monday.

The patient had astir 40 clients successful Texas, wherever it operated nether nan sanction “Lone Star Injury Law Firm” and branded itself “Texas’s #1 Injury Law Firm,” according to nan complaint.

The patient had 1 L.A.-based lawyer licensed to believe successful Texas, Darren McBratney, but he near nan patient successful early 2022. The barroom claims nan patient refused to region nan attorney’s sanction from its website for years, ignoring a cease and desist missive from McBratney’s caller employer.

Typically, attorneys tin return cases successful states wherever they’re not licensed, but they request to partner pinch section counsel aliases get support from nan court. In galore cases, nan barroom alleged, DTLA made nary effort to do truthful and near their out-of-state clients successful nan lurch.

The patient told a Maryland car clang unfortunate her lawsuit was worthy $1 cardinal and encouraged her to spot a California spinal surgeon who charged astir $300,000 for surgery, according to nan complaint. She fired nan patient aft she sewage a colony connection of $160,000 — not enough, she believed, to screen her aesculapian fees, nan title said.

Attorneys signed up a Tennessee customer who was injured astatine a Nashville rental car business, but nan one-year statute of limitations ran retired earlier they revenge nan case, nan barroom title said. The patient offered to salary for each of his aesculapian bills and 1 twelvemonth of beingness therapy “as a shape of restitution,” according to nan complaint.

The charges travel arsenic DTLA faces different pending investigation from nan State Bar successful relationship pinch thousands of intersexual maltreatment lawsuits nan patient revenge against Los Angeles County, on pinch a probe from nan territory attorney’s office. Both person said they are looking into allegations surfaced by The Times past autumn that DTLA paid clients to record claims, immoderate of which were allegedly fabricated, that became portion of a $4-billion settlement, nan largest of its benignant successful U.S. history. The patient has many times denied each wrongdoing.

The firm was founded by 3 longtime friends: Daniel Azizi and Farid Yaghoubtil, who are cousins, and Hendizadeh, a friend from simple school. They began moving together successful August 2013, nan period Hendizadeh sewage his California barroom license, according to nan complaint.

The barroom title charges only Hendizadeh, though it besides mentions Yaghoubtil, who shared nan work for trading and customer intake, according to nan complaint.

The barroom says Yaghoubtil many times asked for a referral interest from a female injured successful a Michigan drugstore aft she dropped nan patient for allegedly taking excessively agelong to record her lawsuit. The customer had to find her ain attorney, nan barroom said, eliminating nan request for a referral fee.

“Why would you show nan lawyers to not salary america a referral fee? That makes nary sense.” Yaghoubtil texted nan female connected Aug. 16, 2022. “But why not fto america get nan referral fee? Very sad. Have a bully night.”