Rafael v Menjivar Los Angeles County Superior Court Case Number BC710026.


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

Attorney Mike Waskul was listed as the lawyer for the plaintiffs in a motor vehicle accident case.




The defendant noticed the deposition for one of Waskul's clients.

But on the day of the deposition there was no appearance. Attorney Waskul did not appear and neither did his client.

The judge said defense counsel tried to meet and confer afterwards, but Waskul said he had lost contact with his client and did not provide any alternative deposition dates.




Defendant also served written questions to be answered to three other of Mike Waskul's clients.

There are no timely responses.

Despite defense counsel meeting and conferring and providing multiple extensions of time to respond, there has been nothing from Waskul's law office.




Defendant filed motions to compel the deposition and responses to discovery.

The judge said Michael Waskul did not file an opposition to the motion or to the request for sanctions.

The granted the motions, ordering Waskul's client to attend a deposition and for the written questions to be answered.

The judge also said sanctions of $1774 would be imposed against Mike Waskul and his clients.




At the hearing there was no appearance by Mr. Waskul.

The judge then adopted the tentative ruling as the final order of the court.

In our opinion, from what the judge said this does not appear to be great lawyering.

It may be understandable to lose track of a client. That may not be within the attorney's control.

But our read of the judge's ruling is Waskul may not have given a heads-up ahead of time that no one would be appearing at the deposition.

There are also three other clients from whom Waskul has not obtained discovery responses.

This despite multiple extensions of time kept being given by the other attorney.

Athough it is just one case, there are multiple issues and clients for which there seem to be problems. What the judge said in the court order did not give us a lot of confidence in Waskul as an attorney.

Lawzilla found a California State Bar order, involving a different attorney, indicating that being sanctioned by a judge for discovery abuse can result in State Bar discipline for failing to competently perform legal services.

Michael Waskul was admitted to the California Bar in 1982. Bar Number 106648.

Michael A. Waskul & Associates
6454 Van Nuys Boulevard Suite 212
Van Nuys, California 91401

Law School: Loyola Law School

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.