Lawsuit by Homeless Woman Accuses Lawyer, Client of Fraud

A prominent Century City criminal defense attorney has become entangled in the legal problems of a swindler-client who allegedly paid his legal bills with money stolen from a homeowner in South-Central Los Angeles who thought she was buying help in averting foreclosure.

The property owner, 54-year-old postal worker Joan J. Pierre, is now homeless and pressing a lawsuit against attorney Donald Marks and his client, Timothy Barnett--a Bible-quoting loan broker and foreclosure consultant from Anaheim Hills who has been convicted of grand theft and other crimes.

Barnett, 35, pleaded guilty in July to 14 felony counts of swindling would-be borrowers, many from lower-income neighborhoods in Los Angeles. The next month, while on bail awaiting sentencing, Barnett and his older brother were rearrested on charges of defrauding two other people--including Pierre, who was allegedly duped into paying $6,000 to Marks that was owed him by Barnett.

According to Pierre’s lawsuit and papers filed by the Los Angeles County district attorney, Pierre was tricked into giving a total of more than $16,000 to Barnett and to people he owed money--all the while believing the payments were part of procuring a new loan.

Court records show that Marks arranged the return of Pierre’s $6,000 after several months--but not before she had lost title to her home. She filed her lawsuit last month in Los Angeles County Superior Court.

Pierre said she was evicted from her home last week along with her invalid aunt, daughter-in-law and two young grandchildren. The family has been forced on several nights to sleep in her car.

“It’s very uncomfortable for a handicapped woman and two kids . . . in a little Mitsubishi,” Pierre said.

“We don’t know what to do because it’s like a nightmare,” she said. “Something has to be done and I don’t know what, but I’m going to keep shouting.”

Marks, whose clients include Hollywood madam Heidi Fleiss, said he could not discuss the case in detail, citing his ethical duty not to disclose communications with Barnett.

But “I categorically deny that [I] did anything wrong,” Marks said. “I have been assured by experts in the area that I did everything right.”

Now being held without bail in Los Angeles County Jail, Barnett was the subject of a lengthy report in The Times in 1993, after he had been sued by dozens of customers for allegedly stealing their money or property. In 1994, he was charged by the district attorney’s office with grand theft and other crimes related to his business transactions.

It was last October, while on bail awaiting trial in the criminal case, that Barnett walked into Pierre’s life, court records show.

A notice of trustee’s sale had been recorded because Pierre was in default on her home mortgage. Barnett, introducing himself as “Ashton Barnett,” offered to cure the default with a new loan that would shave Pierre’s monthly payments from $1,689 to $461, her lawsuit said.

As he previously had done with other alleged victims, Barnett also prayed with Pierre for “God to help stop the foreclosure.” Pierre thought she could trust him because he seemed knowledgeable and “appeared to be a good Christian,” her lawsuit said.

Barnett immediately began requesting money from Pierre, allegedly saying the funds were needed to order a title report, hire an appraiser, and for other similar purposes. At Barnett’s instruction, the lawsuit says, Pierre bought a $2,200 cashier’s check payable to “APACE,” believing this was an escrow firm.

In fact, it was an Orange County moving company to which Barnett owed restitution after being prosecuted for giving it bad checks, court files show.

Barnett also induced Pierre to buy a $6,000 cashier’s check payable to Donald Marks, falsely telling her Marks was a “trustee lawyer” who would stop the foreclosure, the lawsuit said.

Barnett “was allowed while on bail to . . . do the same thing” he was already in trouble for, said Camilla Blair, an Inglewood real estate broker who is trying to help Pierre. “I just can’t fathom it,” Blair said.

In January, still without her new loan, Pierre figured she’d been had. According to her lawsuit, she called her “trustee lawyer” Marks to find out what he was doing on her behalf.

Pierre said Marks informed her he did not practice real estate law and did not know “Ashton Barnett,” but did have Timothy Barnett as a client. At Marks’ suggestion, Pierre sent him a letter recounting her misadventures with Barnett.

“I have given this man the sum of $16,720 to save my home and not one dime has gone toward the saving of my home,” Pierre said in the Jan. 27 letter, filed as an exhibit in the case.

“This man has taken all my money and left my family and I in a [worse] situation than before he ever knocked on my door. I trusted him and he used me, and because of him I am about to lose my home.”

Indeed, Pierre lost the home in foreclosure in February. But she continued to occupy the house for several months and corresponded with Marks about the return of her money.

On June 9, when the $6,000 still had not been refunded, Marks wrote to say he would “make sure that Mr. Barnett complies with your request forthwith,” court records show.

Two weeks later, at a meeting at Marks’ office, Barnett gave Pierre $3,000 and promised to pay the rest by July 1.

But Pierre had not been paid by July 29, when Barnett pleaded no contest to 14 felony charges, and his brother Darryl Barnett, 36, pleaded no contest to a single grand theft count.

Responding to a news report on the brothers’ convictions, Pierre and another alleged victim contacted prosecutors in the district attorney’s office.

After an investigation, authorities rearrested the brothers Aug. 22, charging Timothy Barnett with nine felony counts and Darryl Barnett with three counts stemming from the transactions with Pierre and the second alleged victim. Both men have pleaded not guilty.

Within hours of the arrests, Marks’ law firm mailed a $3,000 check to Pierre with a letter stating the payment was being made “for the sole purpose of facilitating the prompt resolution of this matter. This law firm has always maintained, and continues to maintain, that it is under no obligation to pay such sums on behalf of Mr. Barnett.”

Marks also withdrew as Barnett’s counsel after the district attorney’s office filed papers asserting that Marks would have a conflict of interest because of his role in the Pierre dispute. Along with Pierre, Marks also has been subpoenaed to testify at the preliminary hearing on the new felony charges scheduled for today.

That is only one of two court dates the Barnetts face this week. Thursday, the brothers are scheduled to be sentenced on the original charges, for which Timothy Barnett faces a prison term of up to nine years.

Pierre’s lawsuit, filed on her behalf by Bet Tzedek Legal Services, seeks compensatory and punitive damages against Marks and Timothy Barnett. It accuses them of receiving stolen property and of violating state laws regulating the activities of foreclosure consultants. Neither Marks nor Barnett has yet filed an answer.