Karl Bloomfield was admitted to the California Bar 23rd June 1978, but has since been disbarred. Karl graduated from Southwestern University SOL.

Lawyer Information

NameKarl Bloomfield
First Admitted23 June 1978 (47 years ago)
StatusDisbarred
Bar Number79790

Contact

Phone Number760-803-7854
Fax Number760-489-5182

Schools

Law SchoolSouthwestern University SOL (Los Angeles CA)
Undergraduate SchoolTemple University (Philadelphia PA)

Address

Current Address850 25th St Ste 300
San Diego, CA 92102
Map

History

29 October 2009Disbarred (15 years, 7 months ago)
Disbarment 05-O-00861
17 October 2008Not eligible to practice law in CA (16 years, 8 months ago)
Ordered inactive 05-O-00861
29 September 2006Disciplinary charges filed in State Bar Court 05-O-00861 (18 years, 8 months ago)
23 June 1978Admitted to the State Bar of California (47 years ago)

Discipline Summaries

October 28, 2009

KARL BLOOMFIELD [#79790], 62, of San Diego was disbarred Oct. 28, 2009, and was ordered to comply with rule 9.20 of the California Rules of Court.

The State Bar Court found that Bloomfield committed seven acts of misconduct, including misappropriation and moral turpitude, in three matters.

After reaching a settlement agreement for his client in a personal injury case, Bloomfield received a check for $65,000 from Liberty Mutual Insurance Co. that he deposited in his client trust account. Liberty Mutual sent a replacement check after realizing a payee had been omitted. It also was deposited in Bloomfield’s trust account.

Bloomfield asked Liberty Mutual’s lawyer to advise him if the first check cleared or if payment had been stopped. He did not receive an immediate response and after disbursing the money, $65,000 remained in his trust account because the stop payment order was not timely. Three years later, Liberty Mutual asked about the remaining $65,000, which Bloomfield acknowledged he spent. He agreed to repay that amount and sent two checks, totaling $21,000, to Liberty Mutual. Neither was negotiated.

When he heard from the insurance company two years later, Bloomfield offered to pay half of the $65,000 but couldn’t estimate when he could pay the remainder. After the offer was accepted, he sent a check for $32,500 to Liberty Mutual, but it bounced. He sent a cashier’s check about a month later.

Liberty Mutual sued Bloomfield when he did not pay the balance. He paid another $11,000-$12,000 and reached a compromise settlement with the insurance company.

The bar court found that he committed an act of moral turpitude by spending the proceeds of the second check.

In a personal injury matter Bloomfield took on a contingency basis, he represented a client who claimed to have been raped by her therapist. The woman’s testimony was not always credible given her apparent difficulty to recall as a result of a previous trauma.

When Bloomfield filed a claim against San Diego County, it was partially denied because it was not filed within six months. Bloomfield was advised he could apply for permission to file a late claim, but he never did so. The remainder of the claim was denied outright. He filed suit after a six-month deadline elapsed, but the case was dismissed.

The therapist was not named in the complaint but Bloomfield served him when he located an address. The therapist did not respond and default was entered, but Bloomfield did not pursue the matter for about a year. When he contacted his client, she refused to testify because of her emotional state.

A short time later, Bloomfield appealed the dismissal, filed various documents and asked the client for money for costs. He did not file his brief on time, even with an extension, and the appeal was dismissed.

Bloomfield did not notify the client, provide her with an account or return her file after the client fired him. He also did not reply to a State Bar investigator’s inquiries.

The court found he failed to perform legal services competently, return a client file or cooperate with the bar’s investigation.

He also did not return a file or cooperate with the bar when it investigated his actions in a medical malpractice lawsuit. However the bar court dismissed charges that Bloomfield abandoned the case and did not perform competent legal services.

Nonetheless, Judge Richard Honn recommended Bloomfield’s disbarment, saying his misconduct was extensive and long-lasting. His “failure to return the Liberty Mutual Funds, followed by actually spending them, substantially weakened the reputation of the profession in the eyes of the public,” Honn wrote. “His actions were not a mistake. After he realized that payment of the first check had not been stopped … he began treating the funds as if they were his to keep and did so for an extended period of time.”

Honn acknowledged Bloomfield’s 22-year discipline-free career, family health and emotional problems as well as his participation in the Lawyer Assistance Program. But his actions “go to the fundamental foundation of the role of an attorney — honesty,” Honn wrote.