State Bar Files Charges Against Alioto and Son

Formal disciplinary charges have been filed against former San Francisco Mayor Joseph L. Alioto and his son, Joseph M. Alioto, by the State Bar of California, the watchdog agency reported Saturday.

Bar spokesman Todd Martin said the charges arise from 1974 and 1976 settlements in an antitrust case between cattle ranchers and three supermarket chains in which the Aliotos represented the cattle ranchers.

The younger Alioto emphatically denied the charges, calling them “absurd,” and criticizing the Bar of “cowardly tactics” without first giving him a chance to look at them and respond, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

The younger Alioto defended his handling of the case. He said the $10-million settlement involved was the largest in the history of antitrust cases at the time.

Accused of Fraud

Said Martin: “A former client of the Aliotos in the case, Courtenay Davis of Wyoming, won a $3.2-million (jury) judgment against the Aliotos for their conduct of the case,” and the disciplinary charges Friday came as a result. Davis had accused the Aliotos of fraud.

“Both Aliotos are charged with breach of fiduciary duties, abandoning their client, entering into a business transaction adverse to their client, accepting employment adverse to their client, representing conflicting interests without written consent of everyone involved, and collecting an unconscionable fee,” the Bar charged.

The Bar charges also said the elder Alioto, 71, had permitted his son to handle the case “without proper supervision. The younger Alioto had only been practicing law for a year before he was assigned to the case.”

Related Action

In a related action, the Bar filed what it called “a stipulated public reproval” against San Jose attorney James F. Boccardo “for failing adequately to supervise Joseph M. Alioto’s distribution of settlement funds.”

The Bar said the ranchers originally approached Boccardo, who contacted the elder Alioto as an authority on antitrust litigation. Boccardo and Alioto were hired on a contingency fee basis to pursue the suit. The case eventually was dismissed in light of an out-of-court settlement arranged by the younger Alioto, approved by his father, “but without Boccardo’s knowledge.”

The state Supreme Court ruled this month that the younger Alioto would have to sell his Pacific Heights house to satisfy the Davis judgment, but Alioto said he could pay without having to sell his house.