L.A. Department of Water and Power Pumping Station No. 2
LOS ANGELES — A judge has recommended that a former chief deputy in the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office be suspended from the practice of law for at least two years as a result of his taking part in a scheme to manage a scandal over a failed utility billing system.
The attorney facing suspension calls the decision “unjust and wrong,” and says he may appeal.
State Bar Court Judge Yvette D. Roland issued the disciplinary recommendation on Feb. 17 against James Patrick Clark for his involvement in the scheme to manipulate the city’s culpability for the “disaster” that unfolded in 2013 after the replacement of a city Department of Water and Power (DWP) billing system.
“Given the seriousness of his misconduct, which involves multiple acts of moral turpitude and concealment, and the resulting harm to the administration of justice, the court recommends that Clark be actually suspended for two years and until he provides proof to the State Bar Court of his rehabilitation, fitness to practice, and learning and ability in the general law,” Roland said in her decision.
As a result of putting in place a new Customer Information System, the DWP overcharged some of its ratepayers while failing to bill others, improperly estimated bills, neglected to provide refunds and credits, and failed to investigate resulting problems, the decision states. In turn, the utility lost hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue and was hit with multiple civil lawsuits filed by ratepayers.
The scheme hatched by Clark and others in the City Attorney’s Office involved the consolidation of ratepayer claims in a lawsuit whose plaintiff attorneys were “friendly” to the city, according to the decision. In turn, the city would seek to settle the litigation on more favorable terms.
“The complaint initiating that lawsuit was secretly drafted by the city’s own special counsel, creating the false appearance of an adversarial proceeding,” a media advisory from the State Bar says. “Clark concealed these facts from the mediator, the courts, opposing counsel and the public. He also later submitted a declaration under penalty of perjury denying his involvement in the scheme, which the court found to be false.”
The State Bar’s chief trial counsel, George Cardona, said Clark’s actions cast a long shadow on the City Attorney’s Office.
“As the court found, James Clark, while serving as chief deputy in the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office, engaged in serious misconduct marked by prolonged deceit that significantly eroded public trust and confidence in that office,” Cardona said in a statement. “The State Bar remains committed to pursuing misconduct of this type, regardless of the positions held by the attorneys engaging in it.”
Clark’s attorney, Erin Joyce, criticized the court’s decision in a statement emailed to the Southern California Record.
“It is both unfortunate and frustrating that the decision of the State Bar Court -- like the lawyers who brought the case against Mr. Clark, itself another organ of the State Bar -- chose to credit the fictitious story of a twice-disbarred convicted felon who stole $28 million from the ratepayers of the city of Los Angeles over the credible sworn testimony of Mr. Clark and a half-dozen other long-time members of the California Bar, all with unblemished records of ethical behavior and professionalism,” Joyce said.
She added, “Many of the court's conclusions are proffered without any reference to, or support in, the evidence in the record; many others are explicitly contradicted by that very evidence. This decision is both unjust and wrong. We are considering next steps, including appeal."
The billing scandal has led to other attorneys, including a DWP commissioner and former deputy city attorneys, being given suspensions or disbarment for misconduct related to the scandal. One of the city’s outside counsel, Paul Paradis of the Paradis Law Group, was eventually convicted of felonies and served one year in federal prison as part of a three-year sentence, having received a compassionate release last year, the State Bar reported.
In order to be reinstated to the State Bar in the future, Clark will have to meet multiple conditions, including successful completion of an ethics course, passing the Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination and paying monetary sanctions amounting to $2,500, according to the judge’s decision.
The state Supreme Court has the final word in such attorney discipline cases.
