THOUSAND OAKS : Attorney Suspended for Year Over Loan
A Thousand Oaks attorney has been suspended from practice for a year for improprieties connected with a loan from one client and a medical suit by another client, the California State Bar has announced.
Raymond A. Garcia was placed on probation for one year beginning Jan. 3 after a State Bar hearing in December.
Garcia admitted that he received a $20,000 loan from a wealthy client in 1987 without advising the client to seek an independent opinion from another attorney.
The offense came to light the next year when Garcia missed two deadlines for repaying the loan and his client hired another attorney to collect the money, the State Bar announced last week in the Los Angeles Daily Journal. Garcia later began to repay the money.
In a second case, Garcia admitted that he failed to pay a $1,252 medical bill for a client in 1986.
Garcia said Monday that he did not intend to violate any rules. “I apparently violated a code of ethics that I didn’t realize at the time or I wouldn’t have done it,” Garcia said. “I feel quite bad about it.”
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
