CASSINELLI V. APPLIED PHYSICS SYSTEMS, INC - Amir Mostafavi is the attorney for the plaintiff. In this tentative ruling the judge is sanctioning Amir Mostafavi $1290. The court said Amir Mostafavi failed to substantiate objections made to discovery and the responses that were made by his client were incomplete and evasive.

Update: In a review of the Santa Clara County online case records we cannot decipher if the tentative ruling became the court's final ruling, or if there were any changes. The record shows:




Attorney Amir Mostafavi is listed as plaintiff's attorney.






Mostafavi v Serratos - Los Angeles Superior Court Case Number BC582889.

Attorney Amir Mostafavi represents himself in this lawsuit.




According to the court of appeals decision this is our understanding of what happened:

Employees hired an attorney to pursue wage and hour claims against their former employer.

(Note: Although Lawzilla has not seen the complaint, wage and hour claims often allow for the recovery of attorney's fees so the employee is made whole and the attorney is then paid by the employer)

The employer also filed a cross-complaint against the employees.




A new fee agreement was signed for representation in the cross-complaint.

The agreement included an arbitration requirement.

Per the agreement attorney Amir Mostafavi was hired.




Then another agreement was signed. This one required the employees to "sell and assign" to Mostafavi and the other attorney anything they recovered in their lawsuit against their employer.

(Note: Lawzilla has never heard of a fee agreement like this.)




Then there was another agreement called a "guarantee" requiring the employees to pay the attorneys all sums for attorney fees and costs.




The original attorney then withdrew, leaving only Amir Mostafavi as the lawyer for the employees.

Mostafavi then had the employee sign yet another agreement.

This agreement required the employees to pay Mostafavi's firm:

- $2500 up front

- Up to 60 percent of their recovery against the employer, before deducting costs

- 100% of attorney fees awarded by the court

These payments were only for the wage and hour claim against the employer, and did not include payment for time spend defending the cross-complaint.

(Note: Lawzilla will not mince words about our opinion of this fee agreement: shocking. We would never, ever, recommend anyone hire attorney Amir Mostafavi or any attorney employing this type of fee agreement in a wage and hour claim.)




The lawsuit then settled.

Attorney Amir Mostafavi claimed about 70 percent of his clients' settlement.




The employees objected and Mostafavi agreed to to arbitrate the fee dispute.

A panel ruled in favor of the employees and said Mostafavi was only entitled to 48% of the settlement to cover both legal fees and costs. But it was not binding.




Amir Mostafavi then filed two lawsuits against his clients.




The cases were sent to arbitration before a judge.

The judge said the amount of fees and costs attorney Mostafavi charged was "unreasonable".

The judge then ruled in favor of the employee and cut Mostafavi's share to 45 percent to cover both legal fees and costs.




Mostafavi then filed an appeal claiming he should not have been required to arbitrate the fee dispute.

A unanimous court of appeals disagreed and affirmed the arbitration ruling.

Amir Mostafavi was admitted to the California Bar in 2012. Bar Number 282372.

Old Address:

Law Offices of Amir Mostafavi
11500 W Olympic Blvd Ste 400
Los Angeles, CA 90064

Mostafavi Law Group, APC
11835 West Olympic Boulevard Suite 1055
Los Angeles, California 90064

Law School: Southwestern University

Sanctions are Recoverable as a Judgment - Analysis of the little known fact that sanctions awarded in a lawsuit can be enforced as their own separate judgment. Surprise someone by putting a lien on their bank account, home, wages, etc.