By FRED SHUSTER
Prospective jurors in the forthcoming federal criminal trial of disbarred attorney Tom Girardi will be asked if they are fans of true crime television and whether they’ve seen the defendant’s estranged wife, Erika Jayne, on “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills,” according to court papers filed Tuesday.
The questionnaire will be administered to potential jurors Thursday in advance of voir dire the following week when Girardi is scheduled to stand trial. Girardi, a former plaintiff’s lawyer and owner of the law firm Girardi Keese, is charged with engaging in a scheme to defraud the now-defunct firm’s former clients by stealing portions of their settlement money and lying about it.
Attorney Tom Girardi smiles outside the Los Angeles courthouse on July 9, 2014. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File)
Along with common queries about education, employment history and previous jury experience, more than 100 possible Girardi jurors summoned to the downtown Los Angeles federal courthouse will be asked about their diet of news and celebrity gossip, and which blogs, chat rooms and/or social-media accounts they might subscribe to.
The questionnaire also asks if the potential juror has seen or heard any video or audio content or read any articles that mentioned Girardi, Erika Jayne, or “Real Housewives.” It also asks if the possible juror has any opinions about the truth or accuracy of the allegations in the case.
The set of questions also asks about exposure to the Bravo network, which broadcasts “Real Housewives,” and whether the respondee tunes into true-crime podcasts or documentaries and, if so, which ones.
The disgraced attorney faces charges that, from 2010 to December 2020, he and his law firm’s former bookkeeper, Chris Kamon, embezzled and pocketed about $18 million that belonged to clients of the firm.
Girardi and Kamon were initially each charged with five counts of wire fraud, but on Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Josephine L. Staton tossed one of the counts against Girardi. Kamon, 50, is set to face trial in January.
Girardi, now 85, was found competent to stand trial despite his claim that he has Alzheimer’s disease and is incapable of assisting with his defense. He is free on $250,000 bond and lives in the memory ward of an Orange County nursing home.
Once known as a defender of the powerless in class action lawsuits against corporations, Girardi represented plaintiffs in a number of high-profile cases, including Brian Stow’s civil suit against Major League Baseball. Stow was the San Francisco Giants fan who sustained severe injuries during an attack at a Dodgers game.
Girardi also represented plaintiffs in the toxic groundwater case against Pacific Gas & Electric Co. dramatized in the 2001 Oscar-winning Julia Roberts movie “Erin Brockovich.”
Jayne filed for divorce from Girardi in 2020 after a 21-year marriage. Following the split, the couple listed their Pasadena home for sale at a price of $13 million. Jayne has not been charged in the case against her husband.
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After he was disbarred in 2022, the State Bar of California reported it had received 205 complaints against Girardi alleging he misappropriated settlement money, abandoned clients and committed other serious ethical violations over the course of his four-decade career.
Girardi Keese, famous for representing plaintiffs in large-scale civil litigation against major corporations, collapsed in late 2020 after Girardi was accused in a Chicago lawsuit of embezzling money meant for clients the firm was representing in litigation over an airline crash in Indonesia. The lawsuit brought by plaintiffs’ firm Edelson PC has since been transferred to Los Angeles.
Girardi is in Chapter 7 bankruptcy proceedings, as is the now-shuttered Wilshire Boulevard law firm that bore his name, which faces more than $500 million in claims.
