The State Bar of California filed a notice of disciplinary charges against ex-Girardi Keese partner Robert Finnerty for intentionally withholding information about a $53 million settlement from his clients.
The bar’s Office of Chief Trial Counsel filed the charges in State Bar Court on Friday. The complaint focuses on the family of Joseph Ruigomez, who was severely injured after a gas pipe explosion at his house in San Bruno, California, in 2010. Ruigomez’s family hired Finnerty and Tom Girardi, of Los Angeles-based Girardi Keese, to sue Pacific Gas & Electric, which settled in 2013 for $53 million.