The Agatons allege they are among Girardi’s victims, and say the former attorney represented them as part of a class action lawsuit against TXI Industries claiming the company’s emissions of excessive levels of chromium 6 in Riverside, California, led to the death of their 6-year-old son from brain cancer. A class settlement for $31 million was announced in the case in 2015, but Girardi never paid the Agatons their share of the TXI settlement proceeds, or likely any other TXI plaintiffs, according to the suit.
The suit targets the bar and some of its former top employees and trustees over the bar’s allegedly “rampant” corrupt ties to Girardi, saying the bar failed to discipline the attorney, which led to the Agatons’ victimization. The suit seeks to represent a class of victims who lost money due to the bar’s alleged actions.
The suit included claims for negligence, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligent supervision, and civil conspiracy.
The bar has faced criticism in the wake of the Girardi scandal following revelations it failed to publicly discipline Girardi despite receiving more than 150 complaints against him in the four decades before the scandal came to light in December 2020.
