Suit Maker Strikes Again

Liquor store owner Sam Cotta was worried Monday when he opened his mail and found a lawsuit accusing his business -- along with 108 others in Orange County -- of improperly charging ATM fees.

But after a few phone calls to lawyers and ATM operators, his anxiety turned to anger. The Brea lawyer who filed the suit, Harpreet Brar, seemed to have made a career of suing small businesses and then collecting thousands of dollars in “settlement fees” from nail salons, real estate firms and Indian markets reluctant to fight the suits in court.

Brar has been ordered to pay the state $1.8 million for filing nuisance suits; is at risk of having his law license suspended; and was ordered by the court to stop filing such consumer-protection lawsuits.

Nevertheless, this week Brar filed the suit in Orange County naming the liquor stores after earlier filing two lawsuits in Los Angeles County in which he accused 200 liquor stores of illegally collecting debit transaction fees from his wife.

“He doesn’t care about the consumer,” said Cotta, who owns Bradley’s Liquor in Tustin. “It’s very clear to me he’s just trying to rip people off.”

Brar did not return calls seeking comment. In previous interviews with other newspapers, though, Brar has defended his practice.

“In my opinion, they’re not frivolous lawsuits,” he told the San Gabriel Valley Tribune in May after suing 68 local liquor stores. “Every single lawsuit I file is a consumer-protection lawsuit.”

The state disagrees. In October, Brar was ordered to pay the state $1.8 million and reimburse $10,200 in fees paid him by 10 nail salons he had sued in 2003. He was also barred from filing other consumer-protection lawsuits, a ruling that Deputy Atty. Gen. Howard Wayne said Brar was violating with his current batch of lawsuits.

“He is shaking these businesses down for money that’s paid only to him,” Wayne said.

Brar, who became an attorney five years ago after attending Western State University College of Law in Fullerton, has appealed the ruling and has said in those filings that he is entitled to file more lawsuits while the appeal is pending.

The State Bar of California has recommended that he be suspended for 30 days and placed on probation for two years.