Stephen Allan Rodriguez was admitted to the California Bar 8th June 1992, but has since been disbarred. Stephen graduated from University of West Los Angeles.
Lawyer Information
| Name | Stephen Allan Rodriguez |
|---|---|
| First Admitted | 8 June 1992 (31 years, 11 months ago) |
| Status | Disbarred |
| Bar Number | 158840 |
Contact
| Phone Number | 626-229-9080 |
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| Fax Number | 626-229-9081 |
Schools
| Law School | University of West Los Angeles (Los Angeles CA) |
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| Undergraduate School | California St Polytechnic University (Pomona CA) |
Address
| Current Address | The Law Offices of Rodriguez & Rodriguez, 1181 S Los Robles Ave Pasadena, CA 91106 |
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| Map |
History
| 26 November 2009 | Disbarred (14 years, 5 months ago) Disbarment 04-O-14674 |
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| 1 July 2009 | Not eligible to practice law in CA (14 years, 10 months ago) Suspended, failed to pay fees |
| 3 May 2009 | Not eligible to practice law in CA (14 years, 12 months ago) Ordered inactive 04-O-14647 |
| 26 January 2009 | Disciplinary charges filed in State Bar Court 08-N-14556 (15 years, 3 months ago) |
| 26 November 2008 | Active (15 years, 5 months ago) |
| 7 October 2008 | Disciplinary charges filed in State Bar Court 08-O-12672 (15 years, 6 months ago) |
| 11 September 2008 | Not eligible to practice law in CA (15 years, 7 months ago) Discipline w/actual suspension 07-PM-10444 |
| 25 May 2008 | Not eligible to practice law in CA (15 years, 11 months ago) Ordered inactive 07-PM-10444 |
| 23 May 2005 | Active (18 years, 11 months ago) |
| 23 April 2005 | Not eligible to practice law in CA (19 years ago) Discipline w/actual suspension 02-O-10727 |
| 8 June 1992 | Admitted to the State Bar of California (31 years, 11 months ago) |
Discipline Summaries
November 26, 2009 STEPHEN ALLAN RODRIGUEZ [158840], 62, of Pasadena was disbarred Nov. 26, 2009, and was ordered to comply with rule 9.20 of the California Rules of Court. The State Bar Court found that Rodriguez committed 20 acts of professional misconduct in 16 matters.For about a year and a half, Rodriguez’ office manager, Evelyn Oberhuber, was engaged in what State Bar Court Judge Richard Platel called “a course of criminal conduct involving grand theft, forgery and recording false instruments.†In October 2006, Oberhuber was charged with 102 felony counts, pleaded guilty to 49 and was sentenced to 10 years in state prison. One of Rodriguez’s clients was a victim of Oberhuber’s criminal conduct.As a signatory on Rodriguez’s two client trust accounts, Oberhuber wrote checks against insufficient funds totaling more than $600,000. Rodriguez took responsibility for checks worth about $60,000 written against the first trust account. However, he said he was unaware that Oberhuber opened a second trust account and said the bank had been negligent. The court, however, said Rodriguez had endorsed several checks written against that account and he was responsible for supervising his staff. Platel found that he committed acts of moral turpitude by acting with gross negligence in the supervision of client trust accounts.In a divorce proceeding, Rodriguez filed the petition but did no further work. When a bankruptcy issue arose for the same client, Rodriguez referred the client to Oberhuber and then filed two bankruptcy petitions that were both dismissed. The client intended to acquire title to property located in Yorba Linda so her sister obtained a loan and planned to give the proceeds to the client to acquire the property. The bank informed Oberhuber that the mortgage payoff amount on the Yorba Linda property was $92,725.56. At Oberhuber’s direction, the sister wired $100,000 to Rodriguez’ client trust account.Oberhuber later told the sister the mortgage on the Yorba Linda property had been paid in full when, in fact, she only paid the mortgage arrearages. Using money from the trust account, she made regular monthly mortgage payments on the mortgage for a total of $13,056.73. She gave the client checks for $4,000 and $10,000 that bounced and later made several payments to the client, from the client trust account, totaling $30,718.34. Oberhuber eventually wrote a check for more than $90,000 to the escrow company but it bounced.Other clients also gave Oberhuber money “for their protection†or their credit card numbers. One client gave her $8,000 when she told him she’d negotiated a settlement for that amount.In a criminal case, a woman paid Rodriguez $40,000 to represent her sister and brother-in-law. When another sister was advised she could post $100,000 bail to get the sister out of jail, Oberhuber advised her to transfer the funds by wire to the client trust account. Two people provided $50,000 and the sister sold her house to help raise the money. Rodriguez called the woman several times asking for the $100,000 and more to handle the case. He said he would file the bond motion. However, bail was denied, Rodriguez never obtained his clients’ release and the money was not used for the bond. When the sister asked that the money be returned, Oberhuber wrote two checks for $100,000 against insufficient funds.Platel found that Rodriguez failed to maintain client funds in trust, refund unearned fees, supervise his client trust accounts, perform legal services competently or inform clients of significant developments in their cases, and he committed acts of moral turpitude by misappropriating more than $193,000 in client funds.Rodriguez was suspended and placed on probation in 2005 and 2008. Platel rejected many of his claims during trial, finding his testimony was not candid. Due to his “gross negligence in the supervision of his office staff and trust accounts,†Platel wrote, “numerous clients were harmed.†He pointed out that Rodriguez did not avail himself of the opportunity to better handle client funds and “he continues to blame others for his misconduct. This increases the chances that he will continue to offend.â€September 11, 2008 STEPHEN ALLAN RODRIGUEZ [#158840], 60, of Los Angeles Probation was revoked, the previous stay of suspension was lifted and he was suspended for one year stayed, placed on three years of probation with an actual six-month suspension and was ordered to complete ethics school and client trust accounting school and comply with rule 9.20. Credit will be given for a period of involuntary inactive enrollment that began May 25, 2008. The order took effect Sept. 11, 2008. Rodriguez violated the terms of a 2005 discipline order by failing to file quarterly probation reports on time, filing deficient CPA reports and failing to respond to a letter from the bar’s probation office.The underlying discipline was imposed in 2005 for Rodriguez’ failure to properly deposit client funds in trust, maintain his trust account, report judicial sanctions, perform legal services competently and refund unearned fees and he violated California law proscribing the disclosure of victim-witness information.April 23, 2005 STEPHEN ALLAN RODRIGUEZ [#158840], 57, of Los Angeles was suspended for one year, stayed, placed on three years of probation with a 30-day actual suspension and was ordered to take the MPRE within one year. The order took effect April 23, 2005. Rodriguez stipulated to misconduct in five cases.He represented a criminal defendant in a preliminary hearing, but when the hearing broke for lunch, Rodriguez never returned. The court issued a bench warrant, sanctioned Rodriguez $1,500 and relieved him as counsel. Rodriguez turned over the file to his client’s girlfriend, who in turn gave it to the defendant’s new attorney. The file contained addresses and phone numbers of the victim and witnesses in the case. Disclosing such information violates California law.Rodriguez stipulated that he failed to perform legal services competently or refund unearned fees to his client.He was sanctioned in another case for using bad faith tactics three times during a civil lawsuit. On three occasions, he notified opposing counsel he would seek a temporary restraining order at an ex parte hearing the next day. He then failed to appear for all three hearings and was sanctioned $2,380. He did not report the sanctions to the State Bar.In a drunk driving case, Rodriguez was hired by the defendant’s wife to replace the public defender and appear at a sentencing hearing. He did nothing to represent the defendant — he did not contact him, the public defender or the prosecutor, did not review the case file and did not attend the sentencing hearing. He issued a refund check to the client, but it bounced.Another client who hired Rodriguez to represent her husband in a deportation proceeding deposited two checks into a bank account that turned out to be the personal account of Rodriguez’ legal assistant. The money was never placed in a client trust account.In mitigation, Rodriguez has no prior record of discipline, he cooperated with the bar’s investigation and he demonstrated remorse. |