Prominent police union law firm sued for fraud, malpractice
Looks like everyone needs supervision even your law firm. It may seems like a contradiction that the people you hire to make sure you are not a victim of fraud or other crimes, are the ones who are ripping you off, but it happens more often than we would like to believe.
According to Joe Nelson, a reporter with the San Bernadino-based newspaper The Sun, the bad news just keeps on coming for lawyers who worked for the now defunct police union law firm Lackie, Dammeier, McGill & Ethir in California. The latest event is a lawsuit filed by the Police Officers Research Association – PORAC – on Nov. 26 in Santa Ana Superior Court. PORAC alleges the law firm is guilty of legal malpractice, fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, negligence, unjust enrichment and unfair business practices. It names as defendants attorneys Dieter Dammeier, Michael McGill, Sakunthala E. Ethirveerasingam, who goes by the professional name “Saku Ethir,” Peter Horton, and Kasey Sirody.
The firm, which built its reputation representing police unions across Southern California, has also been accused of bullying two Costa Mesa city councilmen and planting a GPS tracking device on the car of one of the councilmen after contract negotiations between the city and its police union soured.