Joel Howard Goldberg was admitted to the California Bar 30th May 1980, but is now resigned. Joel graduated from California Western SOL.
Lawyer Information
| Name | Joel Howard Goldberg |
|---|---|
| First Admitted | 30 May 1980 (45 years ago) |
| Status | Resigned |
| Bar Number | 92657 |
Contact
| Phone Number | 909-946-6440 |
|---|
Schools
| Law School | California Western SOL (San Diego CA) |
|---|---|
| Undergraduate School | University of California at Los Angeles (CA) |
Address
| Current Address | 400 N Mountain Ave #221 Upland, CA 91786 |
|---|---|
| Map |
History
| 30 September 1998 | Resigned (26 years, 8 months ago) Resignation with charges pending 98-Q-00341 |
|---|---|
| 30 January 1998 | Not eligible to practice law in CA (27 years, 4 months ago) Vol.inactive(tender of resign.w/charges) 98-Q-00341 |
| 24 October 1997 | Not eligible to practice law in CA (27 years, 7 months ago) Discipline w/actual suspension 94-O-11010 |
| 31 May 1997 | Inactive (28 years ago) |
| 16 February 1996 | Disciplinary charges filed in State Bar Court 94-O-11010 (29 years, 3 months ago) |
| 30 May 1980 | Admitted to the State Bar of California (45 years ago) |
Discipline Summaries
October 24, 1997 JOEL H. GOLDBERG [#92657], 44, of Upland was suspended for four and one-half years, stayed, and placed on probation for five years on the condition that he is actually suspended for two and one-half years and until he makes restitution of more than $40,000 and provides proof of his rehabilitation. He also was ordered to pass the MPRE and comply with rule 955. The order was effective Oct. 24, 1997. Goldberg stipulated to 45 counts of misconduct involving nine separate client matters.In one instance, Goldberg settled a personal injury case on behalf of a client for $30,000. He disbursed $7,500 to the client, kept $10,000 for his fee and held $12,500 to pay the client’s medical care providers. However, he did not pay the medical providers.In another instance, Goldberg was hired to deal with the confiscation of a client’s guns by the Los Angeles Police Department and an alleged assault.Although the court ordered that some of the client's guns be returned, they were mistakenly destroyed. The client was awarded $1,500 in arbitration for the destroyed guns, but he was unsatisfied and opted to proceed with a trial. Goldberg failed to inform the client that the arbitration award was entered as judgment.The trial request was not filed within the required statutory period and Goldberg made no attempt to remedy the problem. He also neglected to file a timely civil rights action against the LAPD on behalf of the client and his wife, who requested the action.The couple eventually won a legal malpractice claim of $15,000 against Goldberg, but his check bounced.After making many promises to pay the judgment, he falsely told the couple’s new attorney one year later that he had given a partial payment to a messenger for delivery that day.For the next two years, Goldberg made payments on the $15,000 owed to his former clients.In aggravation, Goldberg’s misconduct exhibited a pattern of abandonment of his clients’ interests and delays in communicating, cover-up and misappropriation of client trust account funds, and failure to return unearned fees.Also, once abandoned, clients found it almost impossible to get a copy of their file from Goldberg.After two of his clients’ cases were dismissed due to his inaction, Goldberg took some further action, but then hid the news about the dismissal from one client for more than a year.Goldberg reassured one client for three years and another for one year that their cases had been filed when, in fact, they had not.Six of the nine clients lost their causes of action. Goldberg misappropriated $12,450 of one client’s money and failed to return unearned fees of $9,000 from three clients.One couple learned from the State Bar, not Goldberg, that he had caused their case to be dismissed. Five other clients found out about dismissals or significant inaction on the part of Goldberg, too late to remedy their situations.Goldberg has only made sporadic restitution to his clients and he chronically hid the truth of the status of his clients’ causes of action.He also failed to participate in five of the nine investigations and displayed a lack of candor and cooperation with the bar.Goldberg’s prior discipline-free record was not applicable in mitigation due to the serious nature of his misconduct.In mitigation, he took steps to atone for his actions when he refunded to one client all of the advanced attorney fees she had paid him before the State Bar became involved. |