Villagrana v Scottys Gas Station Los Angeles County Superior Court Case Number BC695007.


From the Los Angeles court's freely available online case records it is Lawzilla's understanding the following occurred:

Attorney Todd Becker was listed as the lead lawyer for the plaintiff in a personal injury case. No law firm is listed in the header of the complaint.




Lawzilla Note: After the complaint was filed Mr. Becker filed a notice with the court saying he was now with the Becker Law Group. However, Lawzilla did not see any substitution of counsel filed with the court. The Los Angeles court docket lists Mr. Becker as plaintiff's counsel.




Todd Becker has personally appeared to argue matters in the case, such as opposing a summary judgment motion defendant filed.




During the litigation the defendant served discovery on Becker's client. This consisted of a request to produce documents, to answer written questions, and to admit facts as true or not.

No responses were apparently received.

Defendant then filed three motions to compel and sought sanctions against plaintiff and his attorney. For example:




Despite having sanctions being sought against him or his law firm, attorney Todd Becker and his law firm did not file any written opposition to the motions.




At the hearing for the motions to compel the judge made an order for discovery to be answered and ordered sanctions of $870 against counsel Todd Becker, or at least his law firm, and their client.




Later, defendant requested that attorney Becker's client supplement his responses to prior discovery requests.

Apparently, no responses were provided by Todd Becker or his law firm.

The judge said defense counsel made three attempts to meet and confer to get responses. However, no response to even the meet and confer efforts was made by Todd Becker's law firm.




Defendant then filed three more motions to compel and sought more sanctions. For example:




Once again, defendant's counsel said attorney Todd Becker and his law firm did not file any written opposition to the motions or request for sanctions.




The judge in a tentative ruling also said no opposition to the motions to compel was made and no responses to the discovery had been made despite motions being filed.

The judge said the motions would be granted.




The judge also said $810 in sanctions would be imposed against plaintiff's counsel, which Lawzilla understands is either Todd Becker or his law firm, in addition to their client.




When it came time for the court hearing on the motions, the judge said all parties agreed to the tentative ruling.

The tentative then became the final order of the court.

Our count is a whopping six motions to compel and $1680 in sanctions.

There also appears to be a 7th motion to compel that was filed, apparently saying the first ruling by the judge was not complied as ordered by the court. However, it was later taken off calendar.

$1680 is a large amount of sanctions from a court in our opinion. So are six motions to compel.

In our opinion it is unusual to read a judge saying multiple meet and confer efforts from the other attorney were ignored.

What did attorney Becker and his law firm think was then going to happen?

This is just one case, but it is interesting to see what actually happens in lawsuits and how attorneys handle them.

Attorneys talk about how great they are and purported successes - but then you get a fuller picture by reading from a California judge what is actually happening in a lawsuit and the actions, or inactions, of the attorney.

Something to think about before hiring any attorney, including Todd Becker and his law firm.

With respect to the many sanctions motions, the failure to meet and confer, and the 7th motion to compel because a court order was allegedly not complied with, Lawzilla found a California State Bar order, involving a different attorney, indicating that being sanctioned by a judge for discovery misconduct can result in State Bar discipline for failing to competently perform legal services.



In other words, this is in our view a serious matter. We doubt attorney Becker faces bar discipline, but in our opinion what has happened in this case, the many motions and multiple sanctions orders, and failing to meet and confer is significant and concerning.

Information for you to use when evaluating an attorney to retain.

Todd Becker was admitted to the California Bar in 1987. Bar Number 127567.

Law Offices of Todd B Becker
117 East Colorado Boulevard, Suite 500
Pasadena, California 91105

Law School: Pepperdine 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.