Following on the heels of a $3.2 million jury verdict for professional malpractice against Girardi & Keese, a declaration of mistrial, as well as absurd remarks by Tom Girardi ("This is the most stupid case in the history of America"), prominent trial lawyer Terance Mix minced no words in accusing Girardi & Keese of profesional negligence, and for failing to accept responsibility for the catastrophic consequences befalling Girardi & Keese's former client, Richard Salerno.

As a service to the community, TLR shall publish Terance Mix's comment, below:

"Tom Girardi's comment reflects not only his ignorance about the actual facts of a case that sat in his office largely ignored for over two years, but from a lawyer unwilling to own up to the failings of his firm and accept responsibility for the catastrophic consequences befalling his client when Girardi & Keese bailed on the case only 42 days before trial.

Mr Terance Mix of Santa Barbara, California. Mix is the former president of the Los Angeles Trial Lawyers Association and spent 12 years on the Board of Governors of California Trial Lawyers Association. He is a legal author and lecturer on trial techniques and strategies, including the trial of drug product cases, which was his specialty for over 30 years. (image: courtesy photo)

What Mr. Girardi fails to acknowledge in his rant about the "most stupid case in the history of America” is that the only independent and impartial witness to the impact between Richard Salerno's motorcycle and the Volvo, being driven next to one another in the same direction, testified that as he passed the two vehicles, while traveling in the opposite direction, Mr. Salerno appeared to be "talking” to the Volvo driver as he passed them, and never saw Salerno remove his hands from the handlebars at any time before the impact.

This evidence is totally contradictory to Mr. Girardi's assertion that Mr. Salerno was in a "rage” and "beating on the car with his fists and shouting expletives,” as stated in the Metro News article. Indeed, the evidence produced during the trial overwhelmingly demonstrated that the Volvo driver swerved into the motorcycle, as a means of intimidation, knocking Mr. Salerno to the ground and then driving over him with the left rear tire of the car.

Mr Tom Girardi of Los Angeles-based Girardi & Keese. Per findings adjudicated by the Ninth Circuit, Walter Lack and Thomas Girardi have resorted to employing "the persistent use of known falsehoods" and "false representations" were made "knowingly, intentionally, and recklessly" during years of litigation. Subsequnet to those findings, the State Bar of California appointed Howard Rice's Jerome Falk to serve as special prosecutor against Girardi, Lack, and their respective firms. None mentioned that Girardi and Lack are actually clients of Jerome Falk and Howard Rice. See story here. For additional allegations of misconduct leveled against Girardi, please see here, and here , and here, and here, and here, and here, and here, and here, and here, and here. For the latest on Walter Lack, please see here.

What Mr. Girardi also failed to mention, as was likewise brought out during the trial, was that the firm's real reason for wanting out of the lawsuit was simply because they thought it was a lousy case and Mr. Salerno refused to accept a $20,000 offer for a client with a fractured skull, brain damage, multiple other injuries, and medical expenses in excess of $1,000,000. And that the lawyer in his firm that was assigned to the case contrived an allegation that Mr. Salerno intended to lie at the trial, only after the client refused to sign a substitution of attorney form about 50 days before the scheduled trial of the case.

Perhaps if Mr. Girardi had been present throughout the trial, rather than making just a couple of shorts visits, he might have seen how the underlying case could have been developed by his firm during the two years of representation and successfully resolved with the original defendant, thus avoiding last months trial for professional negligence."