Los Angeles Judge’s Charge List Includes Perjury, Obstruction of Justice, Defrauding a Court, Conspiring to Extort … and More
SACRAMENTO — Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Victoria Chaney, who slammed the door on one of the most massive and methodically-corrupt client recruitment schemes ever, on Friday said the plaintiffs’ lawyer at the crux of the case would be subject to numerous charges, including conspiring to extort a United States company. Chaney said Friday that attorney Juan J. Dominguez would be subject to charges of perjury, obstruction of justice, defrauding a court, and possibly federal racketeering violations, according to numerous news articles about the scheme.
In a late April hearing, Judge Chaney dismissed a set of class action cases after finding that the plaintiffs and their lawyers committed fraud in bringing the claims alleging that dozens of banana workers in Nicaragua were rendered sterile after being exposed to the pesticide “DBCP.” On Friday, she ordered Dominguez to appear in her courtroom on June 15 for a hearing on sanctions for alleged contempt of court.
In a post on the CJAC Blog, CJAC President John H. Sullivan commended Judge Chaney for exposing the plaintiff lawyer-engineered scam.
“Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Victoria Chaney upheld the integrity of the courts in unraveling this ball and exposing it,” Sullivan wrote. “In her words: ‘… if you took all the bad cases I’ve read and put them together, they don’t even come close to what’s happened here.’”
In her ruling, Judge Chaney said that Los Angeles plaintiffs’ lawyer Juan J. Dominguez and his Nicaraguan co-counsel committed a “fraud on the court” and a “blatant extortion” of the defendants. She also told the courtroom audience while dismissing the case: that “the actions of the attorneys in Nicaragua and of some of the attorneys in the United States, specifically the Law Offices of Juan Dominguez, have perverted this court’s ability to deliver justice to those parties that come before it.”
Sullivan noted that Dominguez writes about the litigation on his web site, stating that “I oversee the legal work by all lawyers both here in the United States and in Central America.” His site also notes that he is an active member of the national and California plaintiffs’ lawyer associations and “is one of the most widely known, recognized, and respected personal injury attorneys in Southern California.” According to the State Bar web site, Juan J. Dominguez is a graduate of Hastings College of Law in San Francisco.
The Associated Press, reporting the Friday hearing, said Judge Chaney chose not to sanction a Sacramento law firm involved in the case because its attorneys did not know of the conspiracy and were not involved in falsifying evidence. One of the firm’s attorneys offered to try to discourage release of a claimed “documentary” movie, “Bananas,” which defendant Dole Foods Inc. told the court was instigated by lawyer Dominquez and defames the company. Judge Chaney refused to act on a motion to block its marketing.
Contact: John H. Sullivan
916-443-4900