3 Accused Attorneys Resign From Bar

Three Beverly Hills lawyers who were facing disbarment for allegedly extorting cash from thousands of Southern California auto garages resigned voluntarily from the State Bar of California on Thursday, according to the bar’s chief trial counsel.

Damian Trevor, Shane C. Hahn and Allan Hendrickson of the Trevor Law Group were accused of defrauding small-business owners under the state’s Unfair Competition Act and had been placed on involuntary inactive status last month.

“We are very happy to have received the resignations from the Trevor attorneys,” said Mike Nisperos in a prepared statement. As the State Bar of California’s chief trial counsel, Nisperos acted as the prosecutor in the case. “The investigation of the three lawyers was the largest in the history of the bar, and the trial certainly would have taken a great deal of time and resources,” he said.

The State Bar filed a petition last month seeking the lawyers’ disbarment, accusing them of ethics violations, including forming a sham corporation to serve as the plaintiff in litigation carried out with a corrupt purpose.

Defendants charged that the lawyers hit them with frivolous lawsuits to extract quick cash settlements. Defendants were told that by paying the settlement of a few thousand dollars, they could avoid the greater expense of a long trial.

Kevin P. Gerry, the lawyer defending the Trevor attorneys, could not be reached for comment Thursday evening.

During trial court hearings in May, Gerry insisted the three did nothing improper and that the lawsuits were legitimate.