Former Girardi Keese lawyer Robert Finnerty was charged in California State Bar Court for misleading clients about settlement payments alongside convicted ex-lawyer Tom Girardi.
Finnerty, a partner with Abir Cohen Treyzon Salo, helped Girardi conceal a $53 million settlement from the Ruigomez family, according to the notice of disciplinary charges filed Friday. Their home exploded in a gas pipeline eruption that killed son Joseph Ruigomez’s girlfriend and left him covered in burns.
The charges could result in Finnerty’s disbarment, a temporary suspension from practicing law in California, or monetary sanctions.
Finnerty and Girardi settled the family’s case with Pacific Gas & Electric in 2013 without the family’s prior approval, providing only a signature page that lacked the full terms of the settlement, the filing said.
Rather than sharing the settlement was worth $53 million, the lawyers said the family members would collectively net under $10 million. They didn’t alert the family when the settlement was wired to the firm, according to the eight-count charging document.
Finnerty and Girardi told the Ruigomez family the firm was storing the funds in an interest-bearing account while negotiating medical liens. But the account didn’t exist, and the firm held the funds long after paying off the liens, the document said.
So-called interest payments stopped flowing to the family, and Finnerty and Girardi refused to provide accounting documents and the actual settlement agreement, the filing said.
Girardi, who was disbarred amid revelations that he wielded relationships at the State Bar to cover up hundreds of misconduct complaints, was convicted of four counts of wire fraud in August.
Another Girardi Keese lawyer, Keith Griffin, got a 15-month suspension from the State Bar in 2024 for misleading clients about their settlement funds.
Finnerty and Griffin are among four senior lawyers who worked at Girardi Keese that have received target letters from the federal government indicating they could be charged with a crime, according to testimony in Girardi’s trial.
Finnerty clawed for Girardi Keese’s most lucrative cases as the firm collapsed into bankruptcy in 2020.
Finnerty and ACTS Law didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
The case is In the Matter of Robert William Finnerty, Cal. State Bar, No. SBC-25-O-30296, 3/21/25.
