2 on Anaheim City Council Sued

Two Anaheim City Council members, including one who was sworn in last week, were hit with a slander suit Tuesday seeking $18.6 million in damages.

Richard Chavez and Lorri Galloway were served at Tuesday evening’s council meeting. The lawsuit was filed earlier in the day in Orange County Superior Court by a former friend of the two who was once a volunteer at the Eli Home shelter for abused children and their mothers, a controversial nonprofit where Galloway is the founder and executive director and Chavez is a volunteer.

Ronald E. Lais, a retired attorney, says the recently elected Galloway filed a complaint against him with the state bar in 2001, which prompted an investigation by the Orange County district attorney’s office and ultimately resulted in Lais being charged with 29 felony counts of unlawful practice of law. A trial on those counts is scheduled for April 11.

“It’s ridiculous,” Chavez said of the suit. “It’s grandstanding on the part of an attorney who has been [disgraced].”

The conflict between Lais and the council members dates to January 2001 -- before either was elected to office. Lais, according to the lawsuit, agreed to meet with Chavez regarding a child custody dispute, as a favor to Galloway. Lais said in an interview that he filed the suit now because the statute of limitations runs out next month.

Lais, who at the time was in the process of giving up his law license after two suspensions, said he told Chavez he was retired and would act only as a consultant with another attorney making the court appearances.

He said he felt blindsided by Galloway when she called the state bar to complain about him and the lawyer he had asked to represent Chavez in court.

“In family law, and more particularly in child custody, we get accustomed to dealing with people who are upset. But when you get double-crossed, it makes it doubly hurtful,” he said.

Galloway said Tuesday night that she and Chavez did not find out that Lais was no longer practicing law until another attorney showed up in court in his place.

Lais acknowledged that his lawsuit is “sour grapes [but] with a purpose. The purpose is to restore my good name.”

Lais is asking the court to find that the complaint filed by Galloway was “ill-founded, inappropriate and retaliatory.” He is seeking $18.6 million in damages for loss of professional reputation and potential income.