VENTURA : Attorney Suspended for Fund Violations

A longtime Ventura attorney has been suspended from the practice of law for 90 days for failing to pay liens and borrowing from client funds.

In addition to the suspension, which began July 5, the state Supreme Court ordered that Gerhard W. Orthuber be placed on probation for a year, said Chris Gonzalez, a deputy clerk for the State Bar Court of California.

According to an announcement from the Bar, which investigated the matter, Orthuber was hired in 1986 to handle a personal-injury case and received an $8,000 settlement. He paid his client $3,110, took $2,000 as his fee and was supposed to use the remainder to pay the bills. Instead, Orthuber waited three years before paying a $1,910 bill to one medical provider and never paid a separate medical bill for $550.

In a second violation, the bar found that Orthuber used a client trust account to write checks for personal and business expenses 32 times in a three-year period.

In mitigation, the bar said Orthuber cooperated with the investigation and instituted accounting procedures to prevent new violations. It is the first time that he has been subjected to discipline during a 25-year career, the Bar said.

Orthuber, who has offices on East Main Street, said he decided to “take my lumps” rather than go to the expense of fighting the charges. “No clients’ money was in any fashion lost, absconded with or anything else,” he said. He added that he was not even aware of the unpaid bill until the bar investigation began.